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A | 

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on | 
PLATOON SCHOOL | 





THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
NEW YORK - BOSTON - CHICAGO - DALLAS 
ATLANTA + SAN FRANCISCO 


MACMILLAN & CO., LimiTED 
LONDON + BOMBAY - CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 


THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 


OF CANADA, LimitrEep 
TORONTO 


THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


peo OY ORR eA TATIONS OF TAE 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ORGANIZA- 
LONG Omi BE CUR RIC UEUM 





BY 


EUAN oot oie UN Ge PHL), 


DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 
DETROIT, MICHIGAN 


New Bork 


THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1929 


All rights reserved 


COPYRIGHT, 1924, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 


Set up and electrotyped. Published August, 1924. Reprinted 
December, 1925 ; June, 19209. 


* PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAs 


FOREWORD 


In his upward struggle from savagery to the higher 
plane of civilization the creative genius of man, as his 
means of control have increased, has fashioned tools of 
stone and of metal. These inanimate things are mean- 
ingless in themselves. They are merely the expression 
in permanent form of the ideals and aspirations of the 
individual and of the ever changing social groups of 
which he has been a part. They are the milestones 
which mark the progress of civilization. 

By the same token, all social organizations are the 
objective embodiment of society’s ambitions and 
struggles toward some coveted goal. The school 
curriculum, the school organization, and the archi- 
tectural environment in which instruction takes place 
are the resultants of many complex and contending 
forces which in ages gone by have influenced educa- 
tional thought. 

The universe is dynamic and the law of life is change. 
Devices and mechanisms may be transient and fleeting. 
That which bulks large today may become a mere speck 
on the educational horizon tomorrow. Fundamental 
truths alone are permanent and lasting. Therefore, 
every new type of school organization must stand an 
acid test. It must square with the past; it must serve 
the present ; it must hold abundant hope for the future. 

This dissertation undertakes to submit to this acid 

v 


Vi FOREWORD 


test a new type of school organization, the platoon 
school. It recognizes the curriculum to be merely the 
outcome of varied and diverse social forces. It views 
the organization as the mechanical device through 
which the curriculum finds expression. It conceives 
the school building as the physical environment in 
which the curriculum and organization may function. 

This discussion is concerned with the genesis of the 
twentieth century curriculum and with an analysis of 
those social factors which have produced it. It is 
concerned with the nature of the twentieth century 
school organization as it has evolved from the more 
simple forms which have preceded it. It is concerned 
with the twentieth century school building as the lineal 
descendant of the simple and primitive structures of an 
earlier day. In a word, it aims to discover how the 
platoon school squares with the past. 

This treatise also seeks to determine in what measure 
the platoon school serves the present. It undertakes 
to inquire whether its curriculum reflects those social 
ideals and aims which are most worth while; whether 
as an organization it functions in harmony with sound 
principles of philosophy, psychology, and physiology ; 
whether architecturally it provides an environment 
conducive to the health, happiness, and progress of the 
children; whether its educational product is of high 
standard ; and whether its varied activities and facilities 
can be provided without imposing an unreasonable 
financial burden upon the public. 

Finally, this thesis contemplates the platoon school 
in the light of the future trend of educational thought. 
It recognizes that certain influences are now at work 


FOREWORD vil 


which, at no distant day, may profoundly modify both 
theory and practice. It raises the question whether 
the curriculum, organization, and architecture of the 
platoon school are sufficiently flexible to lend them- 
selves readily to those readjustments which the future 
is certain to bring. 

The present study is the outcome of an attempt to 
reconstruct a large elementary school system in terms of 
twentieth century ideals and needs. Whatever meas- 
ure of success has attended this undertaking has been 
due to the codperation of many people — teachers, 
principals, and supervisors —to all of whom the 
author feels under obligation. 

Among his professional associates who have partici- 
pated in the active work of developing platoon schools, 
the author acknowledges his indebtedness to Miss 
Rose Phillips, Director of Platoon School Organization 
in Detroit, whose initiative, energy, and enthusiasm 
have made her invaluable in the practical work of 
reorganization. Miss Phillips, aided by her assistant 
Miss Claudia Wilson, has evolved and refined the 
various types of programs, and has developed an ef- 
fective technique of organization and administration 
adaptable to all platoon schools. 

In the preparation of this work the writer ive been 
aided by the constructive criticism of Dr. Stuart A. 
Courtis, Director of Instruction in the Detroit Schools 
and Dean of the Detroit Teachers College, to whom is 
also due the credit for much of the data on educational 
results included in Chapter IV. 

The author is also indebted to Dr. Arthur B. Moehl- 
man, Professor of Education, University of Michigan, 


vill FOREWORD 


for many helpful suggestions and for aid in the prepara- 
tion of jstatistical data) to Dr Baul Ge Packers Dean 
of the School of Education, University of lowa, 
and to Homer C. Anderson, Assistant Superintendent 
of Schools, Denver, Colorado, for cooperation and 
assistance in adapting school buildings to the platoon 
organization. 

Finally, the author wishes to acknowledge a very 
direct obligation to Frank Cody, Superintendent of 
Schools of Detroit, and to the members of the Board 
of Education of Detroit, whose sympathetic attitude 
toward progressive innovations has made the reorgani- 
zation of the Detroit elementary schools possible. 


C Alaa 


DETROIT, MICHIGAN, 
May 12, 1924. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


PAGE 


FOREWORD . ? , ; ; Vv 
CHAPTER I 
EVOLUTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM . : I 
I. EUROPEAN BEGINNINGS : ; : ‘ ; : I 
II. AMERICAN COLONIAL SCHOOLS OF THE PURITAN PERIOD, 
1620-1775 
III. THE PERIOD FROM 1775 TO 1825. 
IV. THE PERIOD FROM 1825 TO 1850 . : ‘ : 2 8 
V. THE PERIOD FROM 1850 TO 1875 . : 5 : oO 
VI. THE PERIOD FROM 1875 TO 1900 . : : : a etd 
VII. TWENTIETH CENTURY TENDENCIES ; 4 F aTeLO 
VIII. THE CURRICULUM OF THE FUTURE ; ; : aw ele 
CHAPTER II 
EVOLUTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ORGANIZATION . ae? 7 
I. EUROPEAN SCHOOLS OF AND AFTER THE REFORMATION 
PERIOD : : : - : 5 : : ae? 
II. AMERICAN COLONIAL SCHOOLS : ; ‘ : he arts} 
III. Types oF AMERICAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS AFTER 
L750" . . : , ; : : ; H aatO 
IV. MopIFICATIONS IN ELEMENTARY ORGANIZATION IN RE- 
SPONSE TO THE EXPANDING SCHOOL CURRICULUM . 37 
V. REORGANIZATION OF THE DETROIT ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOLS, I918-1924 . ‘ : ‘ : : Bee 
VI. THE DETROIT PLATOON SCHOOL ORGANIZATION . eas 


CHAPTER III 


EVOLUTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING . 3 e510? 
I. EUROPEAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS . - ; : fe 10% 
II. EARLY AMERICAN COLONIAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS . eelOA 


1X 


x TABLE OF CONTENTS 
PAGE 
III. SCHOOLHOUSES OF THE PERIOD FROM THE REVOLU- 
TIONARY WAR TO 1850 . . : ; ; ; Ne Oy) 
IV. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD SEGREGATION AND GRADED 
SCHOOLS . : ; : : . : . a rae 
V. ImporTANT Factors INFLUENCING THE DEVELOPMENT 
OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE . : Pata 
VI. ADAPTING THE SCHOOL PLANT TO THE ORGANIZATION 
AND CURRICULUM ; : : : : : Lan 
CHAPTER IV 
EDUCATIONAL RESULTS ; : ; : ; : ; . 165 
I. INTRODUCTION or ee 1G 
Il. TECHNIQUE USED IN MEASURING RESULTs . ; W166 
III. AMOUNT OF TIME DEVOTED TO FUNDAMENTALS IN 
PLATOON SCHOOLS i ; ¥ ; ; ; a (LGR 
IV. COMPARATIVE RESULTS IN PLATOON AND NON-PLATOON 
SCHOOLS . ; : ; : : , : #166 
CHAPTER V 
Costs 193 
I. INTRODUCTION ; : : : Z : ; pet? | 
II. BuImLpInG Costs . : : ; ; : ji Papas’. § 
III. INSTRUCTIONAL CosTs . ; : a Shs , . 199 
CHAPTER VI 
THE PERSONAL EQUATION . : A - : ; ; 2) aia 
CHAPTER VII 
CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS R ; , : ; : A ah? 
I. Dors Not THE PLATOON SCHOOL ORGANIZATION MAKE 
PROJECT TEACHING ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE BECAUSE OF 
Its DEPARTMENTALIZATION ? t : : ; Ta 3 
II. Do Not Pupits IN PLATOON SCHOOLS LOSE THE 
PERSONAL TOUCH? . ; ( ; : ‘ . 28 
III. ArE Not Pupits IN PLATOON SCHOOLS UNDER A 


NERVOUS STRAIN? . ; , : E . 2am 


TABLE OF CONTENTS xl 


PAGE 
IV. Dots Not FREQUENT CHANGE OF CLASSES WASTE 
TIME AND CAUSE DISORDER? . : 4 : NOEL: 


CHAPTER VIII 


CONCLUSION : : : ; : p : : : 226 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 4 ’ ; eae 
APPENDIX . ‘ , ; Se et 


INDEX : ; : : naby, 





NO 


LIST OF FIGURES 


. A-school organized on the non-platoon plan. Capacity, 


720 pupils, exclusive of 60 in kindergarten 

The same school as in Figure 1, organized upon Terral 
platoon plan. Wiese 960 pupils, exclusive of 60 in 
kindergarten 

A first-grade home room cotta Piles on pias 

A home room with fixed seats 

A music room 

An art room . 

An art room . 

A literature room . 

A gymnasium 

A gymnasium 


. A playground with group games in reece ; 

. Aims of health education 

. A large group in an auditorium 

. A group in an auditorium 

. The auditorium as an integrating nt elit Senta 


A nature study room 


. A domestic arts room 

. A manual arts room 

. A domestic science room 

. Primary group in library 

. Eighth-grade group in library 
. An open-window room . 

. A lunch room 


A clinic . 


. A kindergarten : 
. Old school in Dedham, Nieenen eects ; 
. Log schoolhouse of colonial days 

. Henry Barnard 


Old-time district Bate sean 
xiii 


PAGE 


XIV 


42. 


43. 


LIST OF FIGURES 


. Floor plan of an old-time district school 

. Interior of an old district school 

. Horace Mann 

. One-room school floor ssa cdeeriend ed Dr. W. A. 


Alcott in 1830 
Second-floor plan of Tene son abate SchOal: Phila- 
delphia, 1836 


. second-floor plan of Baier Grane School, Reston 


1843 


. Floor plan of a enters Sohonl 
. Third-floor plan of Bowdoin Grammar School, Hosta 


1848 


. First-and second- Heer part of Bower: Gaia School, 


Boston, 1848 
Quincy Grammar School, Bastar ree 


. Fourth-floor plan of Quincy Grammar School, Bestar 


1848 


. First-, second-, aac hid: feoe an of Onna Gree 


School, Boston, 1848 . 

Plan of traditional elementary school rarely prior to 
1900 . 

Plan of OTS semenere enol ori laltat: (soe 
1918). Capacity 720 children, exclusive of kinder- 
garten ‘ ; 

A school orrarivent on the non- aetatoon Blane Capacity 
720 pupils, exclusive of 60 in para : 


. Newberry School 

. Basement plan of A. L. een Scoot 

. First-floor plan of A. L. Holmes School 

. Second-floor plan of A. L. Holmes School 
. Pattengill School 


Basement plan of Pattengill acne 


. First-floor plan of Pattengill School 
. Second-floor plan of Pattengill School 
53: 
. First-floor plan of Duffield Schaal 
. Second-floor plan of Duffield School 


Duffield School 


PAGE 
IIo 
LT! 
II2 


LIST OF FIGURES 


Plan of the Brady School, illustrating unit construction 


57. The Courville School. The first unit of a twenty-four 


section school. This unit accommodates twelve 
sections 


. First-floor plan of iat Sehool 

. Second-floor plan of Brady School 

. Plan of home room 

. Plan of gymnasiums 

. Plan of playrooms 

. Plan of auditoriums 

. Plan of libraries 

. Plan of kindergarten suite ; 

. Plan of science rooms, showing conservatory 

. Plan of science rooms, showing conservatory 

. Plan of literature, music, and art rooms 

. Plan of manual training room 

. Plan of special room : 

. Plan of administrative rooms 

. Plan of clinic 

. Plan of lunch room 

. Plan of teachers’ rest room : 

. Corridor lockers, each locker used by ee euene 
. Number of minutes per week devoted to fundamental 


subjects in platoon and non-platoon schools 


. Final scores in reading, June, 1922 

. Final scores in penmanship, June, 1922 

. Final scores in arithmetic, June, 1922 

. Final scores in spelling, June, 1922 

. Final scores in geography, June, 1922 : 
. Grade comparisons above and below city neat in 


geography, June, 1922 


. Percentage of grade comparisons martes and fHelow ie 


medians — reading 


. Percentage of grade comparisons Neus and aie: Be 


medians — penmanship 


. Percentage of grade comparisons ove and Reon city 


medians — arithmetic 


XV 


PAGE 


146 


148 
150 
I51 
153 
154 
155 
156 
Boi, 
158 
159 
159 
160 
160 
161 
161 
162 
162 
163 
164 


168 
169 
170 
Day 


172 
173 
174 
175 
176 


177 


Xvi 


86. 
87. 
88. 
89. 
go. 


Ql. 


92. 


93. 


94. 
95. 
96. 


97- 


08. 
99. 
100. 
IOI. 
102. 


LIST OF FIGURES 


Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city 
medians — geography : 

Percentage of grade comparisons aioe and ‘alow city 
medians — spelling : 

Percentage of grade comparisons Above and pegs city 
medians — Jan. 1920-June, 1923 : 

Percentage of grade comparisons above and Meow city 
medians — All tests : 

Percentage of grade comparisons above and eine city 
medians — All tests — 4-year and 3-year groups : 

Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city 
medians — All tests June, 1922 — I- and 2-year groups; 
3-year and 4-year groups 

Comparison of percentages of classes aoe utd Eloy 
city medians before and after adopting the platoon 
system. 14 two-year schools 

Comparison of percentages of classes above aed below 
city medians before and after adopting the platoon 
system. 10 three-year schools 

Percentage of failures in platoon and non- Maton eehente 

Percentage of retardation and acceleration ‘ : 

Percentage of three-or-more year retardation nation- 
ality groups 

Distribution of naional ea in aeolaenon ate non- “laure 
schools 

Distribution of teacher patina 

First-floor plan — Trowbridge School 

Auditorium — Nichols School 

Auditorium — Doty School ; 

Typical ways of handling special subjects in non- ‘platoodt 
schools 


PAGE 
178 
179 
180 
181 


182 


183 


201 


XIII. 
XIV. 
sais 
XVI. 
XVII. 


XVIII. 


LIST OF TABLES 


. Division of Activities between Home Rooms and 


Special Rooms 


. Typical Non-Platoon and Pigroen Breetinens 


Grades 3 Aand6B 


. Space Required for Various Types a Pietoon Gensole 
. Number of Teachers Required for Various Types of 


Platoon Schools 


. Weekly Time Allotment . 
. Time Allotment for Home Room a nena! Reon 


Activities 


. Period Distribution as Shecial Aenoies : 
. Distribution of Time of First Assistants . 
. Distribution of Time — Literature Rooms and Home 


Rooms . 


. Aims and Problems of Health Tein 
. Increase in Capacity Due to Addition of eR Aa 


and Gymnasium 


. Comparative Costs of IAG RESO Pre Guneecin 


with Equivalent Space . 
Comparative Costs per Pupil of Baciee Organized 
on Platoon and Non-Platoon Basis : 
Required Teacher Service — Non- Elareont and 
Platoon Schools : 
Required Teacher Service — Noe aie can — 
16 Section — Grades 1 to6 . 
Required Teacher Service — Platoon Shh aw 6 
Section — Grades 1 to 6 ; 
Required Teacher Service — Platoon School — 18 
Section — Grades 1 to 6 : 
Required Teacher Service — Non- iteet School —_ 
18 Section — Grades 1 to6 . 
XVil 


PAGE 


198 
199 
200 
203 
204 
204 
205 


206 


XVill 


XIX. 


XX. 


XXI,. 


XXII. 


XXII. 


XXIV. 


XXV. 


XXVI. 


LIST OF TABLES 


Required Teacher Service — Platoon School — 20 
Section — Grades I to 8 . : 

Required Teacher Service — Non- PAPO Siiool — 
20 Section — Grades 1 to 8 : 

Required Teacher Service — Platoon Setosles 44 
Classes — Grades I to 6 ; . 

Required Teacher Service — Non- abies. Séhoo! —_ 
24 Classes — Grades 1 to6 . ; ; 

Required Teacher Service — Non-Platoon School — 
12 Section — Grades 1 to 3 . : 

Required Teacher Service — Platoon Shneai ae 12 
Section — Grades 1 to 3 

Non-Platoon Schools — Median NUE: 6 Teachers 
Actually Employed Compared with Number Re- 
quired under Standard Conditions 

Plan of Reorganization of 15 Non-Platoon Sctoule 
Showing Effect on Available Space and Required 
Teacher Service ; F : ; 


PAGE 


206 


207 


207 


208 


208 


208 


210 


210 


THE PLATOON SCHOOL 





Cri be Kheat 


PYOLURIONJOR THE ELEMENTARY: SCHOOL 
CURRICULUM 


I. EUROPEAN BEGINNINGS 


The curriculum reflects changing needs and ideals. 
At every stage of its evolution, the curriculum of the 
elementary school! has reflected the changing needs 
and ideals of society. The school is under constant 
pressure from individuals and organized groups who 
seek to expand and modify the curriculum in response 
to real or imaginary social needs. In this manner 
various influences, religious, educational, social, and 
industrial, have from time to time brought about 
changes in the subject matter of instruction. While the 
school as an institution has been conservative and has 
responded tardily to progressive changes in other fields 
of life activity, it is nevertheless true that the evolution 
of the curriculum parallels closely the evolution of 
society itself. 

The elementary curriculum as established in Europe 


1 Throughout this discussion the term ‘‘elementary school” is 
used to indicate a school established primarily for the instruction 
of pre-adolescents, and secondarily to give children command of 
the vernacular language and literature together with those knowl- 
edges and skills which are universally recognized as fundamental 
in education. 

I 


2 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


up to the early part of the seventeenth century was a 
resultant of two influences. First, the commercial 
ideals which permeated the schools during the latter 
part of the middle ages had resulted in the establish- 
ment of writing and reckoning as worthwhile subjects 
for study. Second, asa result of the religious ideals 
which controlled education after the Protestant Refor- 
mation, reading became the foremost subject to be 
taught in the schools. Under the influence of these two 
ideals, reading and writing became the outstanding 
subjects, and spelling and arithmetic were sometimes 
taught. In Lutheran lands the course of study was 
further enriched by the inclusion of singing. In all 
Protestant countries at the time of the colonization of 
North America, the curriculum of the elementary 
school was narrowly religious in its aims. 


II. AMERICAN COLONIAL SCHOOLS OF THE 
PURITAN PERIOD, 1620-1775 


First American schools religious in purpose. The 
immigrants who formed the human tide which set in 
toward the shores of North America in the early part 
of the seventeenth century naturally brought with 
them their home institutions and their own ideals of 
religion, government, and education. Thus several 
types of elementary schools developed in the American 
colonies in harmony with the standards of the people 
who founded them. But the great and predominant 
purpose of education in all of the early colonies was a 
religious purpose. Children must learn to read in order 
that they might at first-hand understand the Bible and 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 3 


other religious writings. This aim overshadowed all 
others. 

The narrow curriculum of the Puritan elementary 
schools down to the time of the Revolutionary War was 
merely a reflection of the Puritan’s life. His interest in 
religion was intense and overpowering. On the other 
hand, he was indifferent to the fine arts, if not openly 
opposed to them, and his interpretation of natural 
phenomena was based upon ignorance and supersti- 
tion. 

The general tone of the colonial curriculum is sug- 
gested by the textbooks in use before 1775. Every 
child began to learn to read from the Hornbook. He 
then progressed through the catechism and the Bible. 
In 1690 a book appeared which was destined to become 
very popular and to exert a marked influence on ele- 
mentary education. It was called the New England 
Primer. This book of eighty-eight pages, which con- 
tained material of a religious nature, served well as a 
preparation for the Psalter, the Testaments, and the 
Bible, and also as a vehicle for teaching some spelling. 

In teaching writing and arithmetic, a textbook was 
seldom used. In the colonial period, arithmetic was 
not a required subject and often was not taught at all. 
It was presumed to be very difficult and few teachers 
were thought competent to teach it. A teacher who 
was a good “‘ arithmeticker ”’ was highly reputed. No 
printed textbooks in arithmetic came into use until 
about 1750. Writing also was taught by dictation and 
practice. The “ scrivener ’’’ was thought to possess a 
difficult and elaborate art. The fact that it was so 
difficult to learn to write, that paper was so expensive, 


4 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


and that the accomplishment itself was of so little prac- 
tical value to most children, tended to minimize the 
importance of writing in colonial times, and often it was 
indifferently taught. 

Tendencies after 1750. It has been shown that the 
meager and narrow curriculum of early colonial times 
developed in response to a dominant religious interest 
in the society of that period. After the middle of the 
eighteenth century, however, new and compelling in- 
terests arose which were soon to produce a marked 
change in the attitude of the people toward education, 
and ultimately to produce modifications in the curricu- 
lum itself. This changed attitude was due to a variety 
of causes. Old traditions were breaking down. Euro- 
pean ideals and customs no longer satisfied. “There was 
a growing individualism. Secular ideals were taking 
the place of religious ideals. The rising generation was 
becoming interested 1n commerce, industry, and the 
problems of contemporary life. Immigration was re- 
ducing the standard of literacy of the people and lower- 
ing religious ideals. All of these changes were affecting 
the character of education in the colonies. The devel- 
opment of schools distinctly American in type began 
in this period, but progress in this direction was checked 
by the devastating effect of the Revolutionary War. 

In conformity with the new attitude, textbooks be- 
gan to appear dominated by a secular rather than a 
religious motive, but all of the books of this time were 
of English origin. Although ideals and points of view 
were changing during the period from 1750-1775, the 
curriculum remained practically the same as in the 
earlier period. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 5 


CURRICULUM OF 1775 


READING 1 
Spelling ? 
Writing 
{ Catechism 3 
| BIBLE | 
Arithmetic 
1 CAPITALS — Most important subject. 
2 Roman — Least important subject. 
3 Italics — Subject of medium importance. 
— Adapted from Cubberley 


III]. THE PERIOD FROM 1775 TO 1825 

Education preceding the Revolution. The schools 
of the period preceding the Revolution were unbeliev- 
ably crude and inefficient. There was little or no 
group instruction. Each child was called before the 
teacher for individual recitation, while the other pupils 
remained in their seats. There was a deplorable waste 
of time. A pupil frequently spent forty minutes of 
the school day in reciting, and three hundred minutes 
in sitting in his seat.1 

Inefficient as the schools were before the Revolu- 
tionary War, they became decidedly more so during the 
period immediately following the struggle for inde- 
pendence. The war sapped the energies and resources 
of the people and turned their minds to things remote 
from education. In the critical period before the adop- 
tion of the Constitution, which was marked by political 
jealousies and turmoil, education rapidly declined. 
During the war itself many schools were closed entirely, 
and the unsettled conditions following the coming of 
peace prevented their reopening. 

1 BARNARD, HENRY, American Journal of Education, Vol. XXVI. 


6 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


The first American textbooks. There was no exten- 
sive expansion of the elementary curriculum between 
1775 and 1825, but the introduction of various new 
American-made textbooks served to improve the char- 
acter of instruction in the subjects already in the cur- 
riculum and to broaden curriculum content. 

In 1783 Noah Webster produced his ‘“ blue-backed ”’ 
Spelling Book. This was a combined speller and reader, 
and its introduction marked an epoch in the teaching 
of both spelling and reading. The Webster book re- 
placed the old New England Primer in many places, 
and served not only as a means of standardizing the 
spelling of English words, but also gave a vogue to 
spelling throughout the country and assured it a place 
of honor in the curriculum, which it has held ever 
since. 

In 1794 Caleb Bingham published his American Pre- 
ceptor; in 1806 the Columbian Orator, a book by the 
same author, appeared. These two books were in 
harmony with the democratic ideals of the time, and 
contained many patriotic orations of the heroes of the 
Revolutionary period. The Columbian Orator also in- 
cluded cuts showing how to stand, bow, and make ges- 
tures. These books helped to establish declamation as 
a subject in the curriculum. 

Before 1800 Dilworth’s The Schoolmaster’s Assistant, 
a book on arithmetic, was widely used. In 1821 War- 
ren Colburn produced his First Lessons in Arithmetic 
on the Plan of Pestalozzt. 

In 1795 Lindley Murray’s Grammar appeared, to 
be followed in 1799 by Bingham’s The Young Lady’s 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 7 


Accidence. ‘These books were popular and generally 
used, and thus a new subject, grammar, attained a 
place of prominence among school subjects. 

With the publication of books on geography by 
Reverend Jedediah Morse in 1784 and 1795, this new 
subject attracted attention and was given a place among 
the approved studies. 

The publication and use of American textbooks, 

superseding the English books of the Revolutionary 
period, not only gave strength to the idea that educa- 
tion and book learning are synonymous, but served to 
influence and improve methods of instruction, to in- 
crease or diminish the importance of subjects previously 
in the curriculum, and to add several new subjects to 
the course of study. 
- The introduction of new texts with an enriched con- 
tent brought about a change in educational values and 
a shifting in emphasis. With the introduction of at- 
tractive reading material, both in prose and poetry, 
reading became a popular study. This material in 
turn stimulated recitation and public speaking. Spell- 
ing and arithmetic, through the excellent books by 
Webster and Colburn, rose to places of first rank. 
Writing in this period fell to a secondary place. The 
Bible as a text almost disappeared, but the spirit of 
Bible reading and religious instruction remained in the 
curriculum under the title of ‘‘Good Behavior or Morals 
and Manners.’’ It is probable, too, that bookkeeping, 
together with sewing and knitting, was found in the 
curriculum of 1825. These subjects were added for 
practical and social reasons. 


8 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


CURRICULUM OF 1825 


{READING!* * Bookkeeping ? 

| Declamation 8 GRAMMAR 
SPELLING 3 Geography hen 
Writing Sewing and Knitting 


{ Good Behavior 
| Morals and Manners 
ARITHMETIC <4 


1 CAPITALS — Most important subject. 
* Roman — Least important subject. 
3 Italics — Subjects of medium importance. 
* New methods of teaching now employed. 
— Adapted from Cubberley 


IV. THe PERIOD FROM 1825 TO I850 


A beginning of history study. A new subject which 
was formally accorded a place in the curriculum dur- 
ing the first part of the nineteenth century was history. 
Some historical material had been introduced in the 
early readers and geographies. In 1822 Goodrich pub- 
lished A History of the United States. It was very 
popular, and one hundred fifty thousand copies had 
been sold before 1832, when Noah Webster published 
his History of the United States. Webster’s book con- 
tained a study of the Constitution of the United 
States, and marked the beginning of the study of civics 
in elementary schools. 

The output of American textbooks during the period 
from 1775 to 1832 had a tendency to determine defi- 
nitely the elementary subjects. As early as 1830 many 
of the larger cities had developed the curriculum as it 
stood until 1860. In the early thirties means of com- 
munication were few, and ideas spread slowly; conse- 
quently, certain materials of instruction were accorded 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 9 


a place in the curriculum in some parts of the country 
long before they were accepted in others. History and 
geography were opposed by some people in those days 
much as music, art, and physical education have been 
opposed in recent times on the ground that they take 
time from arithmetic and grammar. The subject mat- 
ter of both geography and history furnished good 
material for the children of the upper grammar grades 
and aided in the extension of the elementary course. 

The first teachers’ association. In 1829 the Ameri- 
can Institute of Instruction,! the oldest teachers’ asso- 
ciation in the United States, was formed. It enrolled 
many of the foremost educators of the time, its leaders 
had a vision of, the possibilities of the future, and its 
influence in education was felt for many years.? The 
first address delivered before the Institute was on 
‘““The Importance of Physical Education.”? In 1834 
and again in 1838 this organization recommended the 
introduction of vocal music in the public schools. In 
1836 a voluntary instructor of music was employed in 
Boston. It was the first instance of instruction of this 
sort in American elementary schools, but the experi- 
ment failed, and the general introduction of music did 
not come about until over a quarter of a century later. 

Physical education was not included as a part of the 
regular curriculum in Boston until about 1870. Soon 
after that date, however, this subject began to appear 
in courses of study in a number of places; but it 
was not given general recognition until a much later 
period. 


'Moorg, E. C., Fifty Years of American Education, page 14. 
eid... page iA. 


10 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


CURRICULUM OF 1850 


READING * Bookkeeping 
arene {Elementary Language 
SPELLING | GRAMMAR 
WRITING Geography * 
f Manners ? U.S. History 
\ Conduct Object Lessons 
{MENTAL ARITHMETIC * 
| CIPHERING 


1 CAPITALS — Most important subjects. 
2 Roman — Least important subjects. 
3 Italics — Subjects of medium importance. 
* New methods of teaching now employed. 
— Adapted from Cubberley 


V. THE PERIOD FROM 1850 TO 1875 


Influence of Pestalozzi. In the decade preceding 
1850 and for ten years thereafter more or less in- 
terest was shown by American educators in the 
philosophy and methods of the Swiss reformer Pes- 
talozzi. People immigrating to this country from 
Europe were familiar with his ideals as worked out 
in foreign lands. Americans who traveled in Europe 
returned filled with enthusiasm for his theories 
and methods. Henry Barnard and other influential 
American educators published pamphlets in which the 
new vision of education was revealed. Teachers them- 
selves had glimpsed the practical side of Pestalozzian 
methods in Colburn’s arithmetic. The introduction 
of the new infant school in the early part of the nine- 
teenth century had brought with it an attitude toward 
elementary instruction which harmonized in a degree 
with the new philosophy. In spite of these early evi- 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM LN 


dences of interest in the progressive educational move- 
ment in Europe, the theories of Pestalozzi produced no 
general change in American practice until 1860. 

Before that time there was no evidence of a clearly 
‘defined philosophy underlying American elementary 
school procedure. The aims of education had been 
shifting under the influence of dominant social, indus- 
trial, and religious forces. Few people realized the 
possibilities of training in terms of either the individual 
or of society. The sciences of psychology and sociology 
were yet unformed. All teaching was based upon 
opportunism and immediate needs. No _ scientific 
technique of instruction had been developed. So it 
may be surmised that an educational world thus ham- 
pered and circumscribed was ready to welcome with 
enthusiasm the Pestalozzian wave of 1860. 

The introduction into American schools of Pestaloz- 
zian ideals and methods was of great significance. It 
gave a new purpose to educational effort. It redirected 
and revolutionized both curriculum and methods of 
instruction. It offered a psychological basis for class- 
room methods. It gave us the beginnings of a modern 
educational philosophy, and a scientific technique of 
instruction, without which the training of progressive, 
efficient teachers is impossible. 

Pestalozzi, borrowing many of his ideas from Rous- 
seau, had a prevision of the best ideals and practices of 
the twentieth century. The impetus which his influ- 
ence gave to American education still carries on, and 
many of his ideals interpreted in terms of present-day 
life and thought still inspire our efforts. 

The contribution of the Swiss educator not only en- 


12 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


riched and gave new meaning to the subjects already in 
the curriculum, but by developing a new point of view 
and a new attitude toward instruction made entirely 
new subject matter necessary. 

That phase of Pestalozzian procedure which has most 
profoundly influenced American education is the ob- 
jective and oral method of instruction. The substitu- 
tion of observation and oral expression for the study of 
books and memoriter recitation has revolutionized 
methods of teaching in elementary schools. Observa- 
tion in the natural world made possible the study of 
elementary science and home geography. Talking 
about things observed led to the study of language as a 
means of expression, as distinguished from grammar. 
Observing and counting objects opened the way to a 
new type of primary arithmetic. 

As a net result of the Pestalozzian influence upon the 
curriculum as it stood in 1875, reading still remained a 
prominent subject, but its purpose and character were 
changed somewhat by the new influence; spelling re- 
tained its prestige and vogue; penmanship, influenced 
by the new methods, was more widely taught and em- 
phasized ; conduct as an inheritance of the old religious 
influence in the curriculum still held a place; arith- 
metic as taught under the Pestalozzian plan was more 
firmly established, and mental arithmetic for primary 
grades became popular; grammar still was one of the 
fundamentals, but the subject of oral language had 
found a place and its more rational methods tended to 
detract somewhat from the popularity of grammar; 
geography, which before 1830 had been considered a 
subject of little importance, now reénforced by the 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 13 


new subject of home geography, advanced to a place of 
honor in the curriculum. United States history and 
civics, which were not generally taught previous to the 
Civil War, were advocated as a means of teaching 
patriotism ; object lessons, taught in isolated instances 
in the previous period, became general in curricula 
throughout the country ; and elementary science as a 
phase of object teaching became popular after 1871. 

The beginning of school instruction in drawing and 
music. In 1869a group of manufacturers of Massachu- 
setts petitioned the legislature to direct the State Board 
of Education to report “‘ some definite plan for introduc- 
ing schools for drawing, or instruction in drawing, free for 
all men, women, and children in all of the towns of the 
Commonwealth of more than 5000 inhabitants.’’ The 
argument was advanced that some knowledge of draw- 
ing or design was necessary for a skilled workman and 
that the neglect of this subject in the schools was indi- 
cated by the fact that “ foreign workmen occupy the 
best and most responsible places in our factories and 
workshops.”’ A law authorizing the teaching of draw- 
ing was passed in 1870, and a supervisor of drawing was 
imported from England. In the same year drawing was 
taught in Ohio. From this date the teaching of draw- 
ing in schools spread to other parts of the country. 

In 1870 music was universally taught in Boston 
schools,! and to a limited extent in New Hampshire and 
lowa.! Physical education was also a part of the regu- 
lar curriculum in Boston at this time. Under the in- 
fluence of the new philosophy of education, music and 
physical education began to appear in a number of 

‘Moore, E. C., Fifty Years of American Education, page 40. 


14 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


places, but were not as yet subjects of general 


interest. 
CuRRICULUM OF 1875 


{Home Geography * 


f READING ! | TEXT GEOGRAPHY 

| Literary Selections * fU. S. HISTORY 
SPELLING | Constitution 
PENMANSHIP * s Object Lessons * 
Conduct ? eet Science * 

{PRIMARY ARITHMETIC Drawing * 

| ADVANCED ARITHMETIC Music * 

ee Language * Physical Exercises 
GRAMMAR 


1 CAPITALS — Most important subjects. 
2 Roman — Least important subjects. 
3 Italics — Subjects of medium importance. 
* New methods of teaching employed. 
— Adapted from Cubberley 


VI. THE PERIOD FROM 1875 TO 1900 


The influence of Froebel. As we have seen, the cur- 
riculum of the elementary school was subjected to rad- 
ical reorganization in the decade preceding 1875. 
During the fifteen years following that date, when the 
influence of the great Swiss reformer was changing the 
theories and methods of the elementary school, a new 
force began to be felt in the educational life of America. 

Friedrich Froebel, a follower of Pestalozzi, during the 
period from 1816-1852 conducted experimental schools 
inGermany. Out of his practical experience he evolved 
a new educational unit, the kindergarten, and gave to 
the world a new educational philosophy. 

Froebel borrowed from both Rousseau and Pestalozzi, 
and his theories supplemented and made more effective 
the ideas of the latter. He embodied in practice two 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 15 


theories which have been exceedingly powerful in 
shaping our point of view and in determining our pro- 
cedure. First, he advanced the principles of self-ex- 
pression and self-activity, which gave emphasis to the 
dynamic aspect of ideas, and to motor expression as a 
means of learning. Secondly, he advocated the idea of 
social participation as a means of education. He felt 
that codperative effort is necessary, and realized that 
a child instinctively tends to codperate and that this 
tendency should be noted and developed in infancy. 
The ideal of social participation appears less prominently 
in Froebelian writings than do his other theories, but he 
seems to have had a glimpse of the social viewpoint in 
education which has become so prominent in the 
twentieth century. | 

Froebel’s principal contributions to elementary edu- 
cation were the kindergarten, play, and manual activ- 
ities. In the kindergarten the outstanding idea is 
self-activity directed toward social and moralends. He 
recognized that children are naturally self-active, and 
that they must have an opportunity for self-expression 
through play. In harmony with this idea, the kin- 
dergarten brings to the child stimulating experiences 
from the fields of music, art, literature, and nature, and 
gives him the opportunity and materials for motor 
expression. 

Froebelian theories have penetrated to the primary 
grades and have done not a little toward rationalizing 
the teaching process in the grades immediately follow- 
ing the kindergarten. Coupled with the Pestalozzian 
idea of observation and experiment, as opposed to the 
memoriter methods of earlier days, the Froebelian 


16 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


theory that education chiefly comes through self-activ- 
ity has furnished a new point of departure in all instruc- 
tional effort. 

To the idea that play is of value as a means of physi- 
cal development, Froebel added the thought that play 
is necessary to the complete unfolding of a child’s in- 
stinctive characteristics. “The prominence which he 
gave to expression as a means of development stimu- 
lated interest in the subjects of music and art, and tended 
to make the teaching of these subjects more rational. 

To Froebel cannot be assigned the full credit for the 
introduction of manual training into the curriculum. 
His influence came partially through the fact that the 
kindergarten stands for manual activities, and partially 
from the consideration that the Sloyd system, which 
later was a factor in the manual training movement in 
the United States, was organized through his influence. 

The introduction of manual training into the United 
States ' came as a result of the Russian exhibit at the 
Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. This 
work was first introduced in high schools. 

Manual training for elementary schools developed in 
the form of ‘‘ busy work ”’ in the early primary grades, 
and in the form of experiments to determine a type of 
manual activity suited to the seventh and eighth grades. 
A class in manual training was organized privately in 
Boston in 1882. In 1888 the city took over this work. 

The influence of Herbart. On the threshold of the 
twentieth century still another foreign influence ap- 
peared which produced some marked changes in the 
curriculum. This influence came through the Herbar- 

‘Moore, E. C., Fifty Years of American Education, page 58. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 17 


tian movement which aroused much enthusiasm about 
1890. Johann Friedrich Herbart, a German teacher 
and an admirer and follower of Pestalozzi, lived from 
1776-1841. He developed a new psychology and phi- 
losophy of education as well as a practical pedagogy. 

Pestalozzi had looked upon education as a means of 
individual development, but the progress of industrial 
and social evolution was gradually shifting the center 
of gravity from the individual to society. Herbart was 
one of the earliest educators to recognize this trend. 
He set up morality and character as aims in education, 
and urged the preparation of children for a life in organ- 
ized society. 

As a result of the Herbartian influence, literature and 
primary grade history were added to the curriculum ; 
textbooks and courses of study began to provide liter- 
ature adapted to the interests and needs of children in 
the earlier as well as the later years of the grammar 
school; historical biography was introduced into the 
lower grades, and the social and industrial aspects of 
grammar-grade history received greater emphasis. 

The curriculum of 1900. The curriculum of 1900, in 
its essential elements, did not differ materially from the 
curriculum of 1924. The trend of educational thought 
as exemplified in the curriculum of 1900 reflects the 
ideals of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Herbart, 
modified and readapted to meet the requirements of 
twentieth century society. 

In this curriculum, reading and literature were recog- 
nized as of first importance. Spelling and writing did 
not stand out so prominently as in the previous periods, 
but had a place more nearly commensurate with their 


18 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


social value. Arithmetic, redirected through the influ- 
ence of the modérn viewpoint, still received considera- 
tion out of proportion to its life value. 

Oral language had come into its own, and formal 
grammar, which for so many generations contested 
with arithmetic for the lion’s share of time and atten- 
tion, began to assume a place in the background. 
Geography, with a new social viewpoint and enlarged to 
include home geography, stood out with history as a 
social science. History, with new emphasis on things 
socially vital, became one of the fundamentals of ele- 
mentary education. Nature study, thanks to the 
Pestalozzian idea of observation and experiment, had 
a firm place in the lower primary grades. The leisure- 
time subjects — music, art, and physical education, 
together with play — were given deserved recognition. 
Manual and domestic arts also became firmly fixed. 


CURRICULUM OF 1900 


areas i { Nature Study * 

LITERATURE * | Elementary Science 
Spelling % Drawing * 
Writing * Music * 
ARITHMETIC j Play 

eee LANGUAGE | Physical Training * 
Grammar Sewing 

eae Geography ” Cooking 
TEXT GEOGRAPHY * Manual Training 


History Stories * 
TEXT HISTORY * 


1 CAPITALS — Most important subjects. 
2 Roman — Least important subjects. 
§ [talics — Subjects of medium importance. 
* New methods employed. 
— Adapted from Cubberley 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 19 


VII. TWENTIETH CENTURY TENDENCIES 


Influence of Dewey. [Educational progress in the 
twentieth century has been a resultant of forces set in 
action in various ages in the past, plus new forces gen- 
erated and made effective amid the complex conditions 
of present-day social and industrial life. 

Rousseau in the eighteenth century held that educa- 
tion is life and that it begins and ends with the individ- 
ual. Pestalozzi, following in his footsteps, saw that indi- 
vidual growth must come from within through a child’s 
observation and sense-perception, not through mechan- 
ical memorization. Froebel, who had a truer concep- 
tion of the problem, realized that the starting point in 
education is a child’s inherent tendency to act, and that 
the curriculum must be an epitome of world experience. 
He also believed that the human infant must come into 
his racial inheritance through social participation. 
Herbart’s aim was to develop personal character as 
well as social usefulness, and his followers organized a 
scientific technique of instruction and set up certain 
principles of curriculum making. 

At the opening of the twentieth century, John Dewey 
began to interpret contemporary social and industrial 
changes in terms of a new philosophy and a new psy- 
chology. In his book The School and Society, pub- 
lished in 1899, he proposed the theory that “ the school 
should be life, not a preparation for life.’ Through 
the instrumentality of an experimental school he sought 
to demonstrate that it is possible to order the curricu- 
lum and the work of the school in such a way as to make 
it a miniature of life. He maintained that the end of 


20 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


education is social efficiency, which a child can acquire 
to a degree in school through simplified life experiences. 
His philosophy gave to the curriculum and the school 
organization a practical aspect, and widely expanded 
the scope as well as changed the nature of school activi- 
ties. He gave emphasis to the active rather than the 
passive side of experience. He urged codperation and 
social service as fundamental virtues to be inculcated 
by the school, and demanded that training develop in 
children initiative, vision, and responsibility as prepara- 
tion for democratic citizenship. 

Dewey in his monograph, Interest as Related to Will, 
undertook to harmonize the ancient theory of education 
as effort or discipline with the modern theory of educa- 
tion as a natural process determined by the child’s inter- 
ests. Since the middle of the eighteenth century a reac- 
tion has been under way against the old theory that it 
matters little what a child studies, as long as he dislikes it 
and it requires on his part strenuous effort. In many 
instances the pendulum has swung to the extreme and 
the utilization of interest as a motive has been carried 
to the point of absurdity. Dewey sought to reconcile 
the two theories. He contended that — 


Because interests are something that have to be worked out in 
life and not merely indulged in themselves, there is plenty of room 
for difficulties and obstacles which have to be overcome, and whose 
overcoming forms “will”? and develops the flexible and firm fibre of 
character. To realize an interest means to do something, and in the 
doing resistance is met and must be faced. 


Dewey’s philosophy, which in some respects approx- 
imates the social participation theory of Froebel, has 
given the keynote to recent educational thinking and 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 21 


procedure. His study of the relation of interest to will 
or effort has stimulated study and experiment by others, 
and has resulted indirectly in important changes in 
method and material. 

Influence of Thorndike. During the last twenty 
years educational theory and practice have been pro- 
foundly influenced by the psychological studies of Dr. 
E. L. Thorndike of Columbia University. Inspired 
by James, who conceived education as “ the or- 
ganization of acquired habits of conduct and_tend- 
encies to behavior,’ he experimented with animals 
and evolved a behavioristic psychology which he 
applied to men. As an outcome of his experimental 
studies, and influenced no doubt by both James and 
Dewey, he developed a psychology of education, and 
formulated the laws of learning. Thorndike also took 
issue with the doctrine of formal discipline and gathered 
and published experimental data to show that the trans- 
fer due to training is more restricted than it was form- 
erly thought to be. As a result of his studies the 
materials of instruction have been appraised anew in 
terms of social rather than disciplinary values. 

The most significant movement inaugurated since 
the opening of the present century has been the de- 
velopment of a scientific attitude toward the problems 
of education. School methods have for generations 
rested upon tradition and opinion. In very few in- 
stances, before the end of the nineteenth century, 
was the selection of materials of instruction or the 
determination of classroom method derived from ex- 
perimental data. 

For several decades, the scientific spirit has been 


20 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


gradually modifying methods in the fields of business, 
industry, and tite professions. It was inevitable that 
sooner or later schoolmen should tire of groping in the 
dark and seek the lamp of science to light them on their 
way. This century has seen this come to pass, and 
now, more and more, intelligent administrators and 
teachers are depending upon scientific research to 
blaze the path toward desired goals. 

The great power behind the scientific movement 
has been and still is Dr. E. L. Thorndike. Through 
experiment and research, he developed a statisti- 
cal technique by which the products of instruction. 
may be measured. He devised measurement tests and 
scales, and inspired his students, Courtis, Ayres, Gates, 
and others, to carry on the work. This movement, 
opposed as might be expected by those who see in it 
a tendency toward materialism and an effort to crush 
out the higher things in education, is gaining ground 
steadily, and its universal acceptance can only be a 
matter of time. 

Contributions of other modern educators. The two 
dominating forces, then, in present-day education 
are the social philosophy of Dewey and the psycho- 
logical principles formulated by Thorndike. Recently, 
however, other educators, notably Kilpatrick, Cour- 
tis, and Coursault, have restated the aims of edu- 
cation as modified by the new social philosophy 
and behavioristic psychology. These students of edu- 
cation give full sanction to the ideals of Dewey 
and to the laws of learning as stated by Thorndike, 
but give emphasis to the fact that in the individual 
the source of all ideas of worth and value is in the 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 22 


emotions. In recognition of this truth they emphasize 
education as purposing. Kilpatrick advocates ‘‘learn- 
ing through felt purposes.’ He believes that the 
school should furnish children opportunities to purpose, 
to plan, to execute, and to judge of their results. To 
this end he would have the curriculum consist of an 
array of projects to be attained. To quote Kilpatrick!: 


A project is an instance of activity or experience carried on under 
the dominating purpose of the agent; that is, of the doer and 
learner. ... It is the learner that concerns us, the learning that 
is to come from his doing, his experience. . . . Note, however, that 
it is the purpose of the learner that counts. 


Mourtis says: 


In everyday life the combination of the rational and emotional 
processes results in the formation of purposes and gives rise to 
activities designed to achieve those purposes. Therefore, the new 
education may be defined as the process of helping children to help 
themselves. Its functions are to teach children: 

A. To form ever more worthy purposes. 

B. To achieve those purposes ever more efficiently. 

In such a conception of education, knowledge and skill are relegated 
to their proper place. They are regarded as means to an end, not as 
ends in themselves. 


Coursault * holds: 


The larger factors in human development are (1) the social 
factor, which determines the purposes and ideas available for con- 
trolling conduct; (2) the individual factor, in which these purposes 
and ideas are realized; (3) the educational factor, which unites the 
other two by providing conditions favorable to the development of 
social purposes and ideas in the individual life. 


This new conception of the aim of education in terms 
of both the individual and society, reénforced by recent 


1 Detroit Journal of Education, Vol. I, page 29. 
2 Iid., Vol. IT, page 3. 
38 The Principles of Education, page 25. 


24 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


scientific and psychological thought, is now slowly 
but surely working changes in educational purposes 
and methods. Asa result of all of the factors, social, 
industrial, and educational, that are influencing the 
development of the curriculum, the present tendencies 
may be classified under three captions — Socialization, 
Vitalization, and Individualization. 

Socialization. Socialization assumes the introduction 
into the curriculum of group activities which bring 
pupils into contact with real life experiences. It 
means that the child’s experiences in the home shall 
be carried over into the school and related to and in- 
terpreted by his school experiences. Conversely, it 
means that the school experiences shall carry over 
into the home, the workshop, and the broader outside 
life, and be usable there at their full social value. 
The socialized curriculum must have in view both the 
individual and the society in which he lives. It 
should help him to select suitable patterns for his pur- 
poses and make available for him the materials and 
experiences which shall enable him to realize these 
purposes. In attempting to conform to the new social 
aims, the curriculum opens its doors to every aspect 
of experience that may make for the development of 
socially efficient individuals. The socialized curricu- 
lum of 1924 endeavors to provide experiences which 
touch every phase of child nature. It makes room 
for the traditional three R’s, for health, for vocation, 
for citizenship, for leisure time, for worthy home 
membership, and for ethical training. 

Vitalization. Vitalization appraises the content of 
the curriculum on the basis of social values. Mate- 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM 25 


rials formerly justified on a formal discipline basis must 
now prove their life value or be excluded. The appli- 
cation of this principle eliminates obsolete and useless 
subject matter from both curriculum and_ textbook. 
In the light of the new test of values much of the old 
material is found to be worthless. The educational 
pabulum which remains must have in it the elements 
of real life interest and must function in the social activi- 
ties of the pupils. 

Individualization. The most important outcome 
of the scientific study of child nature has been the dis- 
covery of the meaning of individual differences. It 
has always been known that children differ in many 
ways, but the significance of this variability in its 
relation to the learning process was not understood 
until recent times. A child inherits a certain mental 
capacity. His ability to perform is equal to this 
capacity plus the effect of his environment. Nature 
seems to place a final limit on capacity and beyond this 
it is probable that no amount of education will avail. 
Instruction must of necessity proceed with large 
groups. ‘The largest factor in an individual’s progress 
seems to be his capacity to respond to the instruction 
which he receives. As a result of this situation there 
is great overlapping in every class. A sixth-grade 
class in arithmetic may include some pupils with abil- 
ity as low as that of a third-grade pupil, and others of 
high school range in ability. Uniform instruction to a 
group of this sort seems only to increase the variability. 
Scientific research and experiment are now developing 
a technique by which we can have individual mass 
instruction. By the utilization of scales and stand- 


26 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


ards of achievement, pupils may measure, appraise, 
and record their own progress, and each individual 
may therefore proceed at his own rate. 


VIII. THE CURRICULUM OF THE FUTURE 


Tendencies of the present day. In contemplating 
the future of the curriculum, certain marked tend- 
encies are clearly apparent. Scientific studies will 
make possible a more accurate diagnosis of individ- 
uals. Methods and devices will be discovered or 
invented which will permit of individual progress 
and direction in all of the knowledge and skill sub- 
jects. Such devices are now available in penman- 
ship, arithmetic, reading, and spelling, and others are 
rapidly being produced. In a socialized school much 
of the motivation for the skill and knowledge learning 
will grow naturally from other school activities. 

The probable future. In socializing the curriculum 
by bringing into it a wide range of experiences re- 
lated to many phases of life, the boundary lines be- 
tween subjects will tend to become obliterated and 
subjects as such, except as related to skills and knowl- 
edges, will probably disappear. In their places may 
be found a series of social activities which are related 
to child life in and out of school, and children will have 
an opportunity to set up goals, do their own purpos- 
ing, and struggle for achievement, in harmony with 
child ideals. 


a hal herit 


EVOLUTION OF THE ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 


I. EUROPEAN SCHOOLS OF AND AFTER THE REFOR> 
MATION PERIOD 


Reading schools. While the germs of modern 
elementary school organization possibly may be found 
in the “ writing and reckoning ’”’ schools of the fif- 
teenth century, it is undoubtedly true that our modern 
practice is more directly traceable to the principles 
involved in the Protestant Reformation. 

Although the Reformation gave full sanction to the 
theory that ability to read is a desirable prerequisite 
to individual salvation, it must not be assumed that 
the old ecclesiastical system of education immediately 
broke down and was replaced by one which made 
possible the realization of the new religious ideal. On 
the contrary, the development of schools of the new 
type to take care of the common people was the work 
of many generations. In England, schools for ele- 
mentary instruction in the native language appeared 
very slowly, but the Puritan ideal was strikingly 
exemplified in the schools founded by our English 
forefathers when they came to the shores of Massa- 
chusetts in the early part of the seventeenth century. 

27 


28 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Dame schools and private adventure schools. In 
England the demand for instruction in reading, in the 
period following the Reformation, was in a measure 
satishied by the dame school and the private adventure 
or hedge school. A dame school was a private school 
kept by a woman in her kitchen or living room. In 
return for a modest fee, she imparted to small children. 
the rudiments of reading and spelling. The instruc- 
tion was of the crudest and most inefficient sort. The 
private adventure or hedge school was similar to the 
dame school except that it was kept by a man, usually 
in his home or shop. These schools also were taught 
by tutors of an inferior type. 

Thus, in the days before the Puritans came to New 
England, the responsibility for the instruction of the 
younger children was borne in part by religious or 
semi-religious organizations carrying over from the 
pre-Reformation era, and, in part, by private schools 
of various sorts conducted by inefficient and ignorant 
teachers. In general, the type of teaching exem- 
plified in writing and reckoning schools prevailed in this 
period in one form or another, supplemented by mea- 
ger training in dame schools or other post-Reforma- 
tion schools established primarily to teach reading. 


Il. AMERICAN COLONIAL SCHOOLS 


Schools of foreign origin. From earliest colonial 
times down to our day, one of the large problems in 
American life has been the building up, from diverse 
and varied elements, of distinctly American types of 
institutions. This is in a marked degree true in the 
development of our elementary school organization. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 29 


The immigrants, who reached our shores from every 
part of Europe, brought with them the several types of 
schools with which they were familiar. The Dutch, 
Germans, and Swedes imported the parish school, which 
prevailed generally in Germanic lands. It was a mod- 
ernized descendant of the old medieval religious 
schools. On the other hand, the English colonists, who 
came in large numbers in the early days, brought 
with them several of the types of organization to be 
found in their European home, including the dame 
school, the writing school, and various kinds of charity 
and apprentice schools. 

Lutheran schools. While Lutheran parish schools 
continued to exist throughout the colonial period, they 
did not exert a marked influence on American educa- 
tion. It was from the types of schools transplanted to 
America by the Puritans of New England that the 
modern elementary school was finally evolved. 

Puritan schools. The Puritans had scarcely landed 
in New England before they began to provide schools 
in which their simple curriculum with its overpowering 
religious purpose was taught, but school organization 
could not be said to have taken any definite form in the 
colonial period. The curriculum was meager ; no ade- 
quate quarters for instruction were provided; and 
often, owing to the scattered settlements and the 
demand for some education in several places, the 
school organization became transient or rotating. 
However, after a long time, education began to be 
recognized in many communities as a public function, 
and the unit of education in rural districts became the 
one-room ungraded school. 


30 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


III. Types or AMERICAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
AFTER 1750 


The modification of school organizations. The same 
social and industrial influences which modified the 
curriculum after 1750 brought about changes in school 
organizations. 

In New England there was a struggle to prevent 
schools in towns from disappearing entirely, and also 
an effort to establish district schools. The exigencies 
of the case were such that in rural districts and smaller 
towns the dame school, which was devoted principally 
to teaching reading, was combined with the writing 
school to form the school of the three R’s, from which 
the American elementary school was evolved.! 

Reading and writing schools. In cities, reading and 
writing schools were maintained. As far back as 1789 
a Boston school committee, of which Samuel Adams 
was chairman, adopted the following plan: 


In Town Meeting, October 16, 1789. 


Voted, That there shall be one writing school at the south part of the 
town, one at the center, and one at the north part; that in those 
schools the children of both sexes be taught writing and also arith- 
metic in the various branches of (it) usually taught in the town 
schools including vulgar and decimal fractions. That there be one 
reading school at the south part of the town, one at the center, and 
one at the north part ; that in those schools the children of both sexes 
be taught to spell, accent, and read both prose and verse, and also 
to be instructed in English grammar and composition. ‘That the 
children of both sexes be admitted into the reading and writing 
schools at the age of seven years, having previously received the 
instruction usual at women’s schools; that they be allowed to 
continue in the reading and writing schools until the age of fourteen, 


1 CUBBERLEY, ELLWoop P., Public Education tn the United States, 
page 26. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 31 


the boys attending the year round, the girls from the 20th of April 
to the 20th of October following; that they attend these schools 
alternately, at such times and subject to such changes as the visiting 
committee in consultation with the masters shall approve. 

A picture of the Boston schools as reorganized in 1789 
is given by William B. Fowle, in his Memoir of Caleb 
Bingham, who was a Boston schoolmaster in the last 
decade of the eighteenth century. Mr. Bingham came 
to Boston to establish a school for girls, as no schools 
were open to them except private schools presided over 
by uneducated men teachers. 

The Boston schools for girls. In 1789 there existed 
in Boston two writing schools and two Latin schools. 
Some of the selectmen in charge of the schools felt 
keenly the burden of paying taxes for public schools 
while at the same time they paid tuition for their 
daughters in Mr. Bingham’s private school for girls. 
After deliberation, the officials solved the problem by 
instituting — 
three new schools, to be called Reading Schools, in which reading, 
spelling, grammar, and perhaps geography, should be taught by 
masters to be appointed; the two old writing schools to be con- 
tinued, a new one established; and one of the Latin schools to be 
abolished. As no rooms were prepared, temporary ones were hired, 
so that the same pupils attended a writing school in one building 
half the day, and a reading school in a different building, at a con- 
siderable distance, and under a different and independent teacher, 
the other half. Each reading school had its corresponding writing 
school, and while the boys were in one school, the girls were in the 
other, alternating forenoon and afternoon and changing the half 
day once a month, because Thursday and Saturday being vacation 
this arrangement was necessary to equalize the lessons taught in the 
separate schools. 

Henry Barnard in his American Educational Biog- 


raphy says: 


32 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Even when the town built new schoolhouses, the upper room was 
devoted to the reading school, and the lower to the writing, the 
masters never changing rooms. As no provision was made in the 
reading schools for any exercise in writing, no such exercise was 
required there. ... The reading masters were found as incompe- 
tent to teach penmanship as the writing masters had always been 
to teach anything else. 


A report of the Boston School Committee on the 
condition of the schools in 1845 shows that the same 
double-headed organization was still in effect. This 
report deplores the fact that there were two masters 
with equal rank and pay, neither having exclusive 
control. At that time there were sixteen schools with 
thirty-two masters and sixteen ushers. Each master 
had charge of one half of the school in the morning 
and of the other half in the afternoon. The sixteen 
ushers worked both morning and afternoon. 

This double-headed plan, which in some respects 
suggests the duplicate or platoon idea of today, pre- 
vailed in Boston until after the organization of the 
first graded school, the Quincy Grammar School, in 
1848. 

Lancasterian schools. In 1806 the Lancasterian 
monitorial system of instruction was introduced in 
America, the first school of this type being estab- 
lished in New York. The system soon became popu- 
lar and was widely adopted in various cities and towns. 
The monitorial system made possible the instruction 
of from two hundred to a thousand pupils simultane- 
ously by the employment of one teacher. While 
viewed in the light of current educational thought it 

1 CALDWELL, O. W., and Courtis, S. A., Then and Now in Edu- 
cation, 1923. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 33 


seems mechanical and formal, it brought with it a 
plan of school organization and routine which was 
distinctly in advance of the type which had previously 
prevailed. 

The Lancasterian system gave way to the graded 
school organization of today. Though it left little 
permanent impression, it cannot be doubted that its 
ideals of system, order, group instruction, and teacher 
training carried over into the schools which came 
later. , 

Infant or primary schools. In developing systems 
of elementary schools in American cities previous to- 
the nineteenth century, no specific provision was made 
for training small children. In Boston, before they 
were permitted to enter the writing schools, pupils were 
expected to learn to read and write either at home or 
in dame schools. 

In 1816 the infant school, an English importation, 
was introduced into this country. The infant or pri- 
mary schools were taught the year round by women, 
who, at public expense, prepared children between the 
ages of four and seven to enter the reading and writing 
schools. A number of such schools were organized, as 
it was thought that one teacher could not well manage 
over fifty or sixty pupils and because children of this 
tender age could not conveniently attend school far 
from their homes. In New England, the infant or 
primary schools, which to a large extent absorbed 
the dame schools, from the time of their establishment 
in 1818 down to about 1848, were organized on the 
ungraded plan. Each school was a separate unit and 
usually occupied a separate one-room building. Pu- 


34 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


pils were classified into six groups so that at one time 
a teacher would have under her direction a class of 
‘““ A-B-C-darians,’”’ a class ready for the writing and 
reading schools, and the four intervening classes. 

The graded grammar school. When Horace Mann 
and Henry Barnard, in the thirties and forties, led a 
campaign for the regeneration of American education, 
one of the reforms most urgently demanded was the 
formation of graded schools in which pupils could be 
grouped according to age and attainment. 

As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
progressive educators began to be dissatisfied with 
the inefficient methods of school organization then in 
vogue. In the writing and reading schools as many as 
180 pupils ranging in age from seven to fourteen were 
seated in one room, under the charge of one master 
and several assistants. Often three teachers carried 
on recitations in one room at the same time. In 
the later years this situation was relieved by building 
recitation rooms adjoining the large halls. 

In 1843 Horace Mann visited schools in Europe. In 
the Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Education 
of Massachusetts, published in 1844, he discussed the 
problem of classification as follows : 

The first element of superiority in a Prussian school, and one 
whose influence extends throughout the whole subsequent course of 
instruction, consists in the proper classification of the scholars. In 
all places where the numbers are sufficiently large to allow it the 
children are divided according to ages and attainments, and a single 
teacher has charge only of a single class or of as small a number of 
classes as is practicable. ... Let us suppose a teacher to have 
charge of but one class, and to have talent and resources sufficient 


properly to engage and occupy its attention, and we suppose a 
perfect school. But how greatly are the teacher’s duties increased 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 35 


and his difficulties multiplied if we have four, five, or half a dozen 
classes under his personal inspection. There is no obstacle what- 
ever save prescription and that vis inertiae of mind which continues 
in the beaten track because it has not vigor enough to turn aside 
from it, to the introduction at once of this mode of dividing and 
classifying scholars in all our large towns. 

Although in the light of our twentieth century ex- 
perience, the organization of the reading and writing 
schools seems indefensible, it did not appear that way 
to the Boston schoolmasters, who tenaciously held to 
the traditional methods. Finally, however, in 1848, 
two new grammar school buildings were erected in 
Boston. One, the Bowdoin School, was three stories 
high and built on the traditional plan with large halls. 
The second, the Quincy Grammar School, was four 
stories high. On the first three floors the large halls 
were replaced by twelve small rooms of uniform size. 
The principal, Mr. John D. Philbrick, a man of vision, 
seized upon this opportunity to organize his school 
on the graded plan. The school was divided into four 
classes of 168 pupils each with three divisions in each 
class. In each of the twelve small rooms a teacher 
taught a class of 56 pupils graded according to age and 
attainment. This was probably the first graded school 
in America and its establishment is an event of great 
import, because, with minor changes, it was typical 
of the grammar school organization of today. 

Primary schools as organized before 1856 were un- 
graded, but the curriculum was divided into six steps 
or classes. As soon as the graded system in grammar 
schools gained in favor, there was a tendency to extend 
it to the primary schools. Thus instead of having one 
primary school with six classes, each primary school 


36 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


gave instruction to one grade or class. As a result, 
at the end of each half-year, a pupil was promoted 
from one school to another school having the next 
higher grade. In this way the primary schools in a 
given locality came to have an organic relation, and 
the need for supervision of transfers, promotions, and 
attendance arose. This need began to be keenly felt 
about 1848, just at the time that Boston was shifting 
from the double-headed organization to the graded 
grammar school plan. The master of the grammar 
school was relieved of all teaching and given supervision 
over the grammar school and the neighboring primary 
schools. Thus we have the evolution of the grammar 
school principal. 

The complete elementary school. The final step in 
the evolution of the elementary school organization was 
to gather together,! on the lower floor of the grammar 
school, pupils from the six scattered primary schools. 
In Boston the grades preceding the high school came 
to be known as the primary and grammar grades. In 
some other localities the terms primary, intermediate, 
and grammar were adopted. In Detroit there were at 
first two grades of public schools, primary and middle. 
In 1849 the union system of organization was adopted, 
under which primary and middle schools were housed 
under one roof. In 1858 a uniform system of grading 
was provided. In 1873 the elementary. school in- 
cluded the first nine grades, but in 1876 the ninth 
2rade became a part of the high school. 

1In Providence and Philadelphia the primary grades were 


housed on the lower floor of buildings before the graded school 
system was introduced. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION a7 


IV. MODIFICATIONS IN ELEMENTARY ORGANIZATION 
IN RESPONSE TO THE EXPANDING SCHOOL CURRICULUM 


Departmentalization. In the days when the dame 
school flourished, the teacher gathered a group of 
children about her and imparted to them the rudi- 
ments of an education. When regular schools were or- 
ganized the teacher in the beginning was obliged to 
teach the limited curriculum to children varying con- 
siderably both as to age and ability. In the “ halls”’ 
of the reading and writing schools the number under 
the direction of one teacher was often very large. 

With the coming of graded schools the teacher’s 
task was made easier, because she gave her instruction 
to a fairly homogeneous group, but the rapid expan- 
sion and enrichment of the curriculum during the 
latter part of the nineteenth century and the early 
part of the twentieth has made the problem of the 
teacher more serious. In the earlier periods when only 
reading and writing with a little arithmetic and gram- 
mar were required, each instructor could be in a sense 
a specialist. With the addition of history and geog- 
raphy to the curriculum her responsibilities became 
considerably heavier. With the introduction of music, 
drawing, and physical education, she was expected 
to become a specialist in each subject in turn. As a 
result the task of the teacher became continually more 
burdensome. In attempting to teach the new subjects 
with which she was unfamiliar, she relaxed her efforts 
in the fundamentals and the results in the three R’s 
became less satisfactory. 

As a means of relieving this situation educators 


38 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


turned reluctantly to a principle of action which was 
already working. successfully in industry, the principle 
of the division of labor. It was proposed that teachers 
become specialists in the subjects which they felt them- 
selves best prepared to teach. As music, art, physical 
education, manual training, and domestic art and 
science became more highly specialized, it was nec- 
essary to secure teachers who were trained in these 
subjects. The fundamental subjects together with 
geography, history, and English were divided among 
the regular teachers who could present them most 
effectively. 

This scheme of departmentalization developed much 
opposition at first, and even now is not approved by 
those who believe that teaching is a personal matter 
between teacher and pupil, and that the most val- 
uable factor in education is the personal influence 
which an individual teacher exerts on the pupil. The 
social point of view in education, which means that 
a child shall get experience through social participa- 
tion, suggests that it is best for him habitually to ad- 
just himself to various personalities as he will have to 
do in life out of school. There is a real advantage in 
having a pupil work daily with several teachers. If 
they are efficient and worthwhile, each will appeal to 
him and stimulate him in a different way. If some of 
them are mediocre, as is sometimes the case, his con- 
tact with them is brief and the consequent loss to him 
is less than it would be were he under their direction 
all day. 

The real danger of departmentalization lies in the 
fact that specialization among teachers may result 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 39 


in the disintegration rather than the integration of 
the pupils’ experience. It is possible that instruction 
under different teachers may tend to become pigeon- 
holed so that the child may not realize that all ex- 
perience has unity and is related. The modern idea 
of greater initiative and self-direction on the part of 
children, with a technique which permits them to 
progress individually in the tool and knowledge sub- 
jects, supplemented by group experiences in which 
various types of life problems or projects are met, will 
tend to minimize the danger of disintegration. Chil- 
dren’s experiences will then be related, because we 
shall no longer be teaching subjects as such, but giving 
pupils purposeful social activities to perform which 
in themselves may serve to unify experience. 
Departmentalization in the traditional school has 
several disadvantages. In the first place, it can only 
be a palliative, not a cure, for the condition which 
exists. As commonly employed, it is expensive. If 
we employ special teachers of art, music, and physical 
education who go from room to room in a building or 
who teach groups of pupils in special rooms during the 
entire day, there is duplication of teacher service or 
loss of instructional space, or both. Furthermore, 
the rooms of the ordinary grammar school building 
are not adequate for the presentation of art, nature 
study, physical education, or the socializing activities 
which require special facilities. This fact is being 
recognized more and more and such facilities are being 
included in school plants, but with the traditional 
organization, even if departmentalized, there is ex- 
cessive cost, and loss of much space which might in- 


40 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


crease the capacity of the school if properly used. 
What the situation demands is not a curative nostrum 
but a surgical operation. The new curriculum of 1924 
will not function through the old school organization 
of 1848, even with the aid of departmentalization. 

The Gary schools. Educators are traditionally 
conservative. Therefore, modification in school pro- 
cedure always lags far behind innovations in educa- 
tional thought. The twentieth century brought with 
it the socialized point of view, which is gradually per- 
meating the educational mass and resulting in im- 
proved methods of instruction as well as better forms 
of school organization. Generally speaking, the old 
grammar school type of organization, or some modifi- 
cation of it, is still strongly entrenched, and adminis- 
trators who are attempting to teach the modern so- 
cialized curriculum with the traditional organization 
are trying to put ‘“‘new wine into old bottles.’’ There 
is, however, at the present time a gratifying tendency 
toward reorganization in many cities in scattered 
localities throughout the country. This inclination 
to readjust comes partly from a feeling that the old 
types of organization and building are inadequate for 
present needs, and partly from a desire to care for 
crowded conditions by increasing the housing ca- 
pacity of buildings already in use. 

Credit for the pioneer experiment in the readapta- 
tion of the school plant and organization to the modern 
curriculum belongs to William S. Wirt of Gary, In- 
diana. His experiment is especially noteworthy be- 
cause it inspired the efforts of many other later ex- 
perimenters. When Mr. Wirt took charge of the 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 41 


schools of Gary he found a city which had little or no 
past and consequently no traditions. In this situation 
he was able to put into practice theories which he had 
previously tested in a smaller way in Bluffton, Indiana. 
Mr. Wirt maintains the theory that the chief factors 
in a child’s education are work, study, and play, and 
that the school must provide for all of these activities 
if the child is to have ‘a well-rounded education. The 
general scope of the Gary schools as stated by Mr. 
Wirt | is as follows: 


The twentieth century public school saves the taxpayers money 
by providing, first, classrooms and libraries where the child can 
study books and recite from books; second, playgrounds, gym- 
nasiums, and swimming pools where the child can play and secure a 
general physical training; third, shops, gardens, drawing-rooms, 
and laboratories where the child can work and learn to do efficiently 
many things by doing them; fourth, an auditorium where by 
lectures, recitals, dramatization, phonograph, player-piano, stere- 
opticon lantern, and motion pictures the visual and auditory educa- 
tion of the child may be done efficiently. Four separate and 
distinct places are provided for each child, but the total per capita 
cost is not increased fourfold. . . . Each child can be in only one 
of the four places at the same time. The new school so arranges 
the classes that different sets of children are in the four departments | 
all of the time. 


Some of the outstanding features of the Gary schools 
as summarized by W. P. Burris? are these: 


(1) Better use of school buildings day and evening, including 
Saturdays, the year round. 

(2) Better division of time between the old and new studies. 

(3) Greater flexibility in adapting studies to exceptional children. 

(4) Possibility of more expert teaching through the extension of 
the departmental plan of organization. 

(5) Better use of play time. 


WN. H. A. Proceedings, 1912, page 493. 
2 U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1914, No. 18. 


42 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


(6) More realism in vocational and industrial work, by placing it 
under the direction of expert workmen from the ranks of labor. 

(7) Better facilities for promotion of health. 

(8) Possibility of promoting pupils by subjects instead of by 
grades. 

(9) Possibility of having pupils help each other. 

(10) Saving in cost of instruction. 

(11) A plan which brings together, in a unitary way, with 
economy and efficiency in management, the other recreational and 
educational agencies of a city. 


The feature of the Gary schools which has attracted 
the greatest amount of attention is the duplicate plan of 
organization which increases the capacity of the build- 
ings. In fact so much has been said about decreasing 
cost and relieving crowded conditions, that the real pur- 
pose of the organization, namely the provision of a 
school in harmony with present-day requirements, has 
often been overlooked. The Gary schools represent an 
attempt on the part of Mr. Wirt to realize modern 
educational ideals in a concrete way. To accomplish 
his purpose he inaugurated an elaborate program of 
innovations which the test of a number of years has 
proved to be of value. 

Platoon schools, Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1915, 
in connection with the Cleveland survey, Mr. S. O. 
Hartwell published a monograph on Overcrowded Schools 
and the Platoon Plan, in which he discussed the practi- 
cal working out in the schools of Kalamazoo, Michigan, 
of certain features exemplified in the Gary schools. 
To Mr. Hartwell the phase of the Gary organization of 
most value “consists of administrative adjustments 
through which all special rooms as well as all class- 
rooms are used throughout the school day.’’ This 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 43 


duplicate form of organization he described as the 
platoon plan. The aims of this plan as worked out in 
the schools of Kalamazoo are stated to be — 


(1) Better instruction and improved results in special branches 
without increased expense and without sacrificing the regular sub- 
jects of the curriculum. 

(2) The filling of important gaps in the present curriculum with- 
out the increase in cost that often prohibits such additions. 

(3) A more constant use of the whole school building and espe- 
cially increased use of facilities usually considered ‘‘extras,’’ such as 
auditoriums, gymnasiums, manual training rooms, and the like. 

(4) A larger enrollment within the same building. 


V. REORGANIZATION OF THE DETROIT ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOLS, 1918-1924 


The problem. During the decade preceding 1918, 
Detroit was rapidly evolving from an overgrown town 
into a large cosmopolitan city. With the coming of 
greater Detroit, the smug complacency and conserva- 
tism which had characterized the city for many years 
disappeared and in its place arose a new progressive 
spirit in harmony with twentieth century ideals. The 
rapid broadening of Detroit’s civic outlook was accom- 
panied by a corresponding expansion of its educational 
horizon. The public school organization, for many 
years fairly conservative, in response to new social- 
civic demands became markedly progressive. For a 
number of years Dewey’s social philosophy and Thorn- 
dike’s educational psychology had influenced the ideals 
of Detroit’s educational leaders. With the dawn of a 
new civic era, these ideals began to find fuller expression 
in modifications in the curriculum, in methods of in- 
struction, and in school organization. In attempting 


44. THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


to readjust the elementary school system to meet the 
new situation, the following facts became evident : 


(1) That twentieth century social and industrial life makes a 
broad and varied curriculum a necessity. 

(2) That while our educational ideals, our curriculum, and our 
methods of instruction have been modified gradually in response to 
changing social and industrial conditions, and in harmony with the 
results of scientific research, we are still attempting to realize these 
modern ideals through a type of organization that was developed to 
meet conditions over seventy years ago. 

(3) That, while the ideals of today demand that we shall not 
only train a child in the fundamentals of education, but also shall 
make an appeal to the social, ethical, physical, and vocational as- 
pects of his nature, we are trying to attain these ideals in a type of 
school building which was adjusted to conditions existing before the 
middle of the nineteenth century. 


The logical conclusion to be drawn from these facts is 
that, if the ideals of today are sound, and we have faith 
in them, the time is at hand when we must — 

(1) Adopt a modern and more flexible form of elementary school 
organization. 


(2) Erect buildings which shall be adapted to the purposes of 
the new organization. 


Platoon school experiment in Detroit, 1918-19109. 
Prompted by the above considerations, when two new 
school buildings with auditoriums and gymnasiums 
were opened in Detroit in September, 1918, a modified 
type of organization was tried experimentally. In 
planning the new organization, the following aims were 
kept in mind: 

(1) Some activity — work, study, or play—for every child, 
every hour of the school day. 

(2) A school plant as nearly as possible 100 per cent efficient. 


(3) Adequate time and suitable conditions for effective in- 
struction in the three R’s. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 45 


(4) Ample time and suitable physical environment for daily 
health education. 

(5) Special teachers and facilities for instruction in health, music, 
art, literature, science, manual arts, and home economics. 

(6) Development of the auditorium as a new socializing and 
correlating unit in the school. 

(7) Establishment of a library as an integral part of the ele- 
mentary school organization. 


To obtain these objectives, a specialized form of the 
duplicate or platoon organization was developed and 
put in operation in two small buildings, the Maybee 
and Kennedy schools. These two schools were se- 
lected because they contained auditoriums and gym- 
nasiums, which are a prerequisite to the Detroit type of 
organization. 

Inasmuch as the buildings selected were being used 
for the first time, it was possible to begin the experi- 
ment with an entirely new corps of teachers in each 
school. Two open-minded, progressive principals were 
selected. They entered enthusiastically into the proj- 
ect. The corps of teachers selected in each school was 
divided into two groups, those who preferred to teach 
the fundamentals, and those who were interested in the 
various special subjects. 

The experiment in both schools was a success from 
the start. The most striking outcome was the spontan- 
eous and wholehearted endorsement which the new 
organization received from principals, teachers, pupils, 
and parents, and the consequent spread of a favorable 
sentiment throughout the system. It was presumed 
that the new organization would make its way slowly, 
and in the face of opposition. On the contrary the 
attitude developed was overwhelmingly favorable, and 


46 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


within a few months the completion of additions to 
other buildings made possible the establishment of the 
platoon organization in four additional schools, Hely, 
Stephens, Russell, and Columbian. With the opening 
of the fall term in September, 1919, nine more schools, 
Wilson, Angell, Greenfield Park, Marxhausen, Greusel, 
Lincoln, Lingemann, Breitmeyer, and Newberry, were 
reorganized as platoon schools. At the end of a year it 
was evident that the new organization had met the 
approval of a great majority of the parents, teachers, 
and pupils concerned. In addition, a measurement of 
the results attained in the three R’s showed that, even 
in the midst of reorganization and readjustment, the 
platoon schools were producing results in writing, spell- 
ing, arithmetic, and geography which were equal to 
those attained in the non-platoon schools. 


Official adoption of platoon school organization. In 
preparing the annual school budget for the years 1920- 
1921, the Detroit Board of Education was confronted 
by a serious problem. Owing to the rapid growth of 
the city and the restraining effect of the war on all 
building operation, the housing capacity of Detroit 
schools was far below the requirements. Almost 
twenty thousand children were receiving only part- 
time instruction. To relieve the situation the appro- 
priating bodies authorized the expenditure of approxi- 
mately eight million dollars for new elementary schools 
and additions. 


Before attempting to outline a building program, the 
Board of Education decided to formulate and adopt a 
general educational policy. As respects elementary 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 47 


school buildings and organizations several questions 
arose ; 

(1) Was the Board justified in spending large sums of money to 
erect a type of building which was manifestly inadequate for the 
purposes of the modern curriculum ? 

(2) If schools with auditoriums, gymnasiums, libraries, and 
other modern facilities were to be built, was the Board justified in 
perpetuating an organization which utilizes only two-thirds of the 
capacity of the building ? 

(3) In view of the current trend in educational thought and 
practice, would it not be the part of wisdom to cut loose from tradi- 
tion, and plan a new type of organization and a new type of building 
in harmony with the modern curriculum and the larger and more 
efficient use of the school plant ? 

In this crisis the Board of Education turned to the 
platoon school experiment. After careful considera- 
tion of all of the factors involved, it was decided to 
take a radical forward step, and the following resolu- 
tion ! was adopted : 

That the educational needs of children of the kindergarten and 
the first six grades be met by building large elementary schools, 
with auditoriums and gymnasiums, planned definitely to satisfy the 
requirements of the platoon form of organization. 

The passage of this resolution was epoch-making, in 
that it was the first instance in which the school au- 
thorities of a large city had officially adopted the 
platoon form of organization, and had planned a build- 
ing program accordingly. 

Since the new educational policy went into effect in 
1919, the reorganization of the Detroit elementary 
school system on the platoon school basis has gone 
steadily forward. Data indicating the annual in- 


1 Resolution of the Detroit Board of Education, September 25, 
1919. 


48 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


crease in the number of platoon schools may be found 
in the Appendix, pages 233-256. 


VI. THE DETROIT PLATOON SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 


Aims. The fundamental object of the platoon 
organization is to provide an administrative device 
by which all of the subjects in the present-day cur- 
riculum may receive proper emphasis, and may be 
presented under conditions that best make for the 
realization of the social aims of education. 

To one who believes in a democracy, the aim of 
education is to enable each individual to develop to 
the fullest extent his individual powers while doing 
those things which are beneficial to society as a whole. 
Progressive educational thinkers are becoming daily 
more convinced that the big impelling motive in edu- 
cation is the social motive. All of our schools, ele- 
mentary, intermediate, secondary, and collegiate, must 
in the future strive to realize more fully the seven 
great social aims of education. The platoon school 
does this in a marked degree. 

The platoon organization makes ample provision 
for the health of its pupils through its gymnasium, its 
playground activities, its school clinic, its lunch room, 
and its auditorium lessons in hygiene. 

It teaches the fundamentals, the three R’s, as effec- 
tively as the conventional school has ever done. | 

It trains its pupils in the duties and responsibilities 
of citizenship and develops in them an enlightened 
social consciousness through the medium of its audi- 
torium activities and its library period, supplementing 
the instruction in history, civics, and literature. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 49 


It prepares its pupils for worthy home membership 
through its vocational activities, through its provi- 
sion for play and physical education, through its li- 
brary, and through its auditorium. All of these afford 
opportunities for self-activity, self-control, and self- 
direction on the part of the pupils. 

It arouses in its pupils vocational interests, and 
tests their aptitudes and tastes through the medium 
of its shops, its kitchens, its domestic art classes, and 
its mechanical drawing. 

The platoon school, with its studio, its music room, its 
literature room, its auditorium, and its library, appeals 
to the cultural side of child nature, stimulates the 
child’s imagination, and prepares him to spend his 
leisure hours worthily and happily. 

Finally it may be conceded that all education should 
ultimate in the development of ethical character. 
This particular type of school, because it appeals to so 
many aspects of a pupil’s nature, because it arouses 
a many-sided interest, because it offers such a variety 
of experiences, because it provides so many avenues 
for self-expression, and above all because it demands 
and requires so much from pupils in the way of self- 
control and self-direction, is the best type of school 
yet devised to develop ethical character. 

A secondary purpose of the platoon plan is to de- 
_ velop an organization which shall not only effectively 
realize the ends of instruction, but which shall at the 
same time make the largest and most effective use of 
the school plant. The traditional grammar school 
organization cannot effectively realize either of these 
important purposes. 


50 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Plan of organization. ‘The distinctive feature of the 
modern platoon or work-study-play school is the di- 
vision of all of the school classes into two large groups, 
or platoons, alternating between the “‘ home rooms,” 
where the three R’s are taught, and the rooms for 
special activities, where children receive training in 
the social, ethical, physical, and vocational phases of 
life. 

For the ninety minutes, in which the classes of one 
platoon are in the home room receiving instruction 
in English, spelling, arithmetic, reading, and penman- 
ship, the classes of the opposite platoon, for three 
thirty-minute periods, are found distributed among 
the activities of gymnasium, play, auditorium, social 
science, literature, art, music, library, and household 
arts. The alternating of the platoons in the middle 
of the morning and the middle of the afternoon di- 
vides a six-hour day into three hours of home room 
work and three hours of special activities for every 
child. With this duplicate plan, all the space and all 
the facilities of the school are brought into play at the 
same time, thus giving the benefits of all the depart- 
ments to all of the pupils. 

The following general schedule, showing the division 
of the day into home room work and special activities 
for each platoon, will illustrate : 


The school day begins at 8: 30. Groupsin Platoon A go directly 
to the home rooms, where they remain until 10 o’clock, while groups 
in Platoon B have three thirty-minute periods of special activities. 
Both platoons change at 100’clock. Those in Platoon A then partici- 
pate in special activities for three thirty-minute periods, while 
groups in Platoon B have ninety minutes of home room work. 
School is dismissed at 11: 30. After one hour for lunch, Platoon A 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 51 


groups report to their respective home rooms again for a period of 
ninety minutes, during which the B groups report in special classes 
for three thirty-minute periods. The platoons again alternate at 
2 o'clock, A groups remaining in the home rooms for ninety minutes, 
and B groups in special classes until dismissal at 3: 30. 

The manner in which the day’s activities are distributed between 
home and special rooms may be shown as follows : 


TABLE I 
PLATOON A PLATOON B 
8:30 Spec. Rooms (8 : 30-9 : 00) 
to Home Rooms Spec. Rooms (9 : 00-9 : 30) 
10:00 Spec. Rooms (9 : 30-10 : 00) 
10:00 Spec. Rooms (10 : 00-10 : 30) 
to Spec. Rooms (10 : 39-11 : 00) Home Rooms 


Ir :30 Spec. Rooms (11 : 00-11 : 30) 


NOON RECESS 


12z| = 30 Spec. Rooms (12 : 30-1 : 00) 
to Home Rooms Spec. Rooms (1 : oo-1 : 30) 
2:00 Spec. Rooms (1 : 30-2 : 00) 
2:00 Spec. Rooms (2 : 00-2 : 30 
to Spec. Rooms (2 : 30-3 : 00) Home Rooms 


3:30 Spec. Rooms (3 : 00-3 : 30) 


Typical daily programs of pupils in the third and 
sixth grades of a platoon school compared with those 
of pupils of the same grades in non-platoon schools 
appear below: 


TABLE II 
A C1Lass — THIRD GRADE 
A.M. 
PLATOON NON-PLATOON 
Home Room 8:45- 8:55 Opening Exercises 
8 : 30- 9:00 Reading 8:55-9:15 Arithmetic 
Q :00- 9:30 Arithmetic 9215— 9 335 Arithmetic (Study) 
9 :30- 9:50 Penmanship 9:35-9:45 Geography 
9 : 50-10 : 00 Recess 9 : 45-10 : 00 Recess 
Special Rooms IO : 00-10 : 30 Reading 
IO : OO-IO : 30 Library IO : 30-II :00 Drawing 
IO : 30-II :00 Auditorium TP4.00-11 315 Health Education 
II : 00-II : 30 Play Tr 215—TD 330 Spelling 
Dismissal Tiesco Dismissal 
P.M. 
I2 :30- 1:00 Reading I :00- 1:20 Music 
I :00- 1:20 Spelling I:20- 1:45 Language 
i 20-1 +30 Arithmetic I :45- 2:00 Penmanship 
£330- 1:50 Reading 2:00- 2:15 Recess 
I :50- 2:00 Recess 2:1I5—- 2:30 Geography 
Special Rooms 2:30- 2:45 Health Education 
2:200- 2:30 Literature 2:245- 3:00 Reading 
2 :30- 3:00 Gymnasium Be00— 93315 Silent Reading 
3 :00- 3:30 Science a8 ia Dismissal 


52 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


B Ciass — SrxtH GRADE 


A.M. 
PLATOON NON-PLATOON 
Home Room 8 :45- 8:50 Opening Exercises 
8: 30- 9:00 Arithmetic 8 :50- 9:20 Drawing 
9 :00- 9:30 Penmanship and English 9:20-9:45 Spelling 
9 :30- 9:50 Spelling OQ A5-10n 1S Health Education 
9 : 50-10: 00 Recess TOs E5—10:: 30 Recess 
Special Rooms IO : 30-II : 00 Arithmetic 
IO : OO-IO : 30 Literature II : OO-II : 30 Geography (Study) 
IO : 30-II :00 Science II : 30-II : 45 Penmanship 
II : 0O-II : 30 Gymnasium Ta aS Dismissal 
Dismissal 
P.M. 
I2 : 30-12 : 50 Study Science I :00- 1:10 Courtis Test 
i2 50- 1.10 Arithmetic I:10- 1:40 Geography 
Tels 50 English Composition and 
Reading I :40- 2:00 Hygiene 
I :50- 2:00 Recess 2:00- 2:25 English 
Special Rooms 2325- 2:30 Recess 
2:00- 2:30 Library 2:30- 3:00 Arithmetic (Study) 
2 + 30- 3:00 Auditorium 3200- 3:30 Reading 
3,2.00— 3). 30 Music BIO Dismissal 


The Detroit plan of platoon organization is possible 
only in a building containing regular classrooms, an 
auditorium, a gymnasium, and indoor or outdoor play 
space. With these facilities and the adoption of a stand- 
ard of forty children to a classroom group or section, the 
capacity of any building organized on the Detroit plan 
may be determined by multiplying the original number 
of classrooms by $; e.g., a building of eighteen class- 
rooms, accommodating eighteen groups or sections 
(720 children) on the traditional plan, will on the 
Detroit plan be able to accommodate twenty-four 
sections (18 XK 4 = 24) or 960, making an increase of 
33% per cent. This increase may be illustrated by the 
following diagrams. 

In Figure 1, which represents a school organized on 
the traditional plan, the shaded areas indicate eighteen 
classrooms. The kindergarten has a capacity of sixty 
children. In addition this building includes space for 
manual training, domestic science, domestic art, library, 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 53 


auditorium, gymnasium, and playcourt. All of these 
areas furnish extra space which is used at times when 
pupils leave one or more of the eighteen regular rooms. 





Fic. 1.—A Belioal AA on —< non- Ren Diaiie Capacity, 
720 pupils, exclusive of 60 in kindergarten. 


In spite of this extensive auxiliary space the actual ca- 
pacity of the building remains 18 XK 40 = 720 + 60 
(kindergartners). 

In Figure 2 the same school is shown organized upon 
the Detroit platoon plan. By utilizing the auditorium, 
gymnasium, and playcourt continuously in connec- 
tion with the eighteen schoolrooms it is possible to 
organize a twenty-four section platoon school with 
a capacity of 960 (40 X 24) + 60 kindergartners. 
In a twenty-four section school there are twelve home 
rooms and additional space in the building to house 
the other twelve sections at the same time. Twelve 
of the regular schoolrooms, indicated in the shaded 
area, are used for home rooms. The remaining six 
may be distributed as follows: two as literature rooms, 
two as science rooms, one devcted to art, and one to 
music. The original shaded area will therefore house 
eighteen of the twenty-four sections. The remaining 
six sections must be provided for at all times by the 


54 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


other shaded area, which includes the auditorium, 
gymnasium, amd playcourt. Thus the continuous 
use of the auditorium-gymnasium-playcourt area in- 
creases the capacity of the building 334 per cent from 
eighteen to twenty-four sections, or from 720 pupils to 
g60. While the auditorium and play spaces each have a 
normal capacity of eighty pupils, it is possible to vary 
this number. In actual practice the number of pupils 






First Platoon Second Platoon 






(480 children) (480 children) 


__ 


Fic. 2. — The same school as in Figure 1, organized upon Detroit pla- 
toon plan. Capacity, 960 pupils, exclusive of 60 in kindergarten. 





who occupy the auditorium and play space each period 
is determined in part by the number who at the same 
time are using the manual training, domestic science, 
and domestic art rooms, and the library. Time which 
is spent in any one of these rooms is normally deducted 
from play time or auditorium time and hence dimin- 
ishes the number of pupils occupying these units. 

If, in introducing the platoon organization, regular 
classrooms are used for auditoriums or gymnasiums, 
the number of such rooms must be deducted from the 
total number of rooms originally in the building before 
the formula can be applied. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 55 


Types of platoon schools. After six years of experi- 
ence with the Detroit platoon schools, five different 
types | of organization have been developed. The fol- 
lowing tables show the enrollment, required space, and 
required number of teachers in each type. 


TABLE III — SpAcE REQUIRED FOR VARIOUS TYPES OF PLATOON SCHOOLS 














Ex Tora 
- | HOME No. PrLay- Man. 
TYPES ne Roce Lit. | Scr. | Music} Art Crass Aub. |Gym. Caner Lis. Auts 
Rooms 
I2 sec.| 480 6 I I 5 25 9 I I I 
16 sec. | 640 8 I I I I 12 I I I 
18 sec. | 720 9 1.5 T5 I I 14 I I I 
20 sec.| 800 ate) i ifopl le seis I I 15 I I I I 2 
12 2 2 I I I I I I 2 


24 sec.| 960 | 18 


TABLE IV— NuMBER oF TEACHERS REQUIRED FOR VARIOUS TYPES OF 
PLATOON SCHOOLS 














HoME TOTAL 
Types Home | Room Aup. | Gym..| Lir. | Scr. | Mus.| Arr. | Lis. Man. | No. oF 





Room | ReE- Arts | TEACH- 
LIEF ERS 
I2 sec 6 I I 2 I 5 “53 rie 
16 sec 8 I 2 2 1.5 res I I 18 
18 sec 9 I 2 2 2 2 I I 8 20.8 
20 sec Io 2 2 2 2 2 I I I 1.2 24.2 
24 sec 12 2 2 | 3 2.5 2.5 I I I 2 29 








The twenty-four section type has been selected as 
the standard because it best utilizes space and teacher 
service, and twenty-three of the fifty-four schools now 
in operation are of this size. New buildings are so 
planned that they can be erected in units adapted to the 
twelve and twenty-four section types. The largest 
buildings, such as the Duffield (Figure 53, page 143) 
have facilities for two twenty-four section schools. 
If the size of a building and the enrollment make 

1 Programs of each type may be found in the Appendix, page 233. 


56 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


necessary a number of sections larger than thirty-six 
and less than forty-eight, it is desirable to organize 
a twenty-four section school, and either a twelve or 
sixteen section school in the same building. | 

Program making. No platoon school can be suc- 
cessfully organized and administered unless it has back 
of it a carefully planned, well-balanced program. 
The program is the most important factor of the or- 
ganization, determining to a large extent the utiliza- 
tion of the school plant, the best distribution of sub- 
ject matter according to grade allotment, and the most 
effective use of teachers’ time. 

In making a program, the following are essential 
considerations : 

(1) Space in building. 

(2) Enrollment by grades. 

(3) Time allotment or period distribution. 

(4) Planning of classes with desired sequence of 
pupil’s work and equalization of teacher’s time. 

Space. Ifa building is being considered for a pla- 
toon organization, every detail of space must first be 
checked. Rooms to be used for auditorium, gymna- 
sium and play must be selected and all available rooms 
of classroom size included ; e.g., a building of eighteen 
classrooms with auditorium, gymnasium, manual arts, 
and library space will become a twenty-four section 
school with classrooms divided (see Table III) into 
twelve home rooms, two literature rooms, two science 
rooms, one music room, and one art room. This is 
the minimum space required for this type of organiza- 
tion. Details of space requirements for other types 
of platoon organizations will be found in Table ITI. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 57 


Enrollment. After the space has been analyzed, 
the building capacity is determined by multiplying 
the number of classrooms by $; e.g., eighteen class- 
rooms would accommodate twenty-four groups or 
class sections or, on the basis of forty in a section, 960 
pupils. In the same manner, the number of sections 
of any size of building may be determined, thus form- 
ing the basis for the type of program to be made. 

Time allotment. In making the program of special 
activities, a standard time allotment by subject and 
grade must be followed. 


TABLE V— WEEKLY TIME ALLOTMENT 




















HEALTH I II III IV Vv VI VII VIII 
Gymnasium 9)  . alsO 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 
PLA; ee Sees poe <b) oT SO 150 120 60 60 60 fo) fo) 
IRGCeESS et eee. Me LOO 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 
TOTAL Meeet te ore ei ss 400 400 370 310 310 310 250 250 
LANGUAGES 

Reading and Phonics. 725 625 400 250 150 150 100 100 
Lit., Comp., Grammar 150 150 150 150 250 250 300 300 
Spelling aerate 75 75 100 100 100 100 100 100 
Penmanship. . . . ° ° 100 100 100 100 100 100 
Tbrarval.e eee 30 30 60 60 60 60 60 60 
TOLAL PM rae cate tae OSO 880 810 660 660 660 660 660 
SOCIAL SCIENCE 

AUGILOMUIN sees eee ee 50 150 150 150 120 120 go go 
History oe ee ° ° ° ° ° fo) 250 250 
Nature and Geog... . 150 150 150 250 250 250 ° ° 
TOTALS a Ewe Se fie 300 300 300 400 370 370 340 340 


EXACT SCIENCE 











Mathematics .. . ° 100 200 250 250 250 250 250 
TOTAL Gnomes ae. © ° 100 200 250 250 250 250 250 
VOCATIONAL 

Manual Training . ° ° ° 60 go go 180 180 
Domestic Science . . ° ° ° fe) ° ° ° ° 
Mechanical Drawing . ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° 
LOLA +. ° ° ° 60 go go 180 180 
FINE ARTS 

INGUSIC? oa cae core ee 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 
Drawingi a, Wee fi. 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 
TEAL Cee) Cans. teh 20 120 120 120 120 120 120 120 





TOLATS | UaMecueca er mis 1500 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 


58 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


TABLE VI =— TIME ALLOTMENT FOR HOME ROOM AND 
SPECIAL Room ACTIVITIES 


TIME ALLOTMENT FOR HOME ROOM 


Br Art B2 Az B3 A3 Ba A4 Bs As B6 A6 By Az B8 A8 
Reading and Phon- 
ics . SAO 


800 725 625 625 400 400 250 250 I50 I50 I50 I50 I00 I00 I00 I00 
English fo) 


oO ° ° ° ° © I00 100 100 100 150 150 I50 I50 








° 
Spellngoc rns © 75 75 75 100 I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 
Arithmetic... . © 0 I00 I00 200 200 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 
Science : © © © OO 0 0 I00 I00 I00 I00 100 I00 I00 100 I00 I00 
Penmanship © © ©O- 0 I00 I00 I00 I00 100 I00 I00 100 I00 I00 100 I00 
Recess . . . . I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 I00 100 100 I00 I00 I00 100 I0O I00 100 
TOTALS . . «. « YOO JOO 900 JOO 900 900 900 JOO YOO JOO 900 900 900 900 900 900 


TIME ALLOTMENT FOR SPECIAL ACTIVITIES 





Auditorium . » 50 150 150 I50 I50 I50 1150 I50 120 120 120 120 QO GO 90 90 
Gymnasium . . 150 I50 I50 150 I50 I50 I50 150 I50 I50 I50 I50 I50 I50 I50 I50 
English: 4%.) = °. "Y§o0 150/150 150 150 250 150 150) F50° 150 150 ESO, E50 1 5OunsanrSsO 
Science . . . . I50 150 150: 150 I50 150 150 150 150 150.150) E50 ESO. 150) £50 150 
Arti). «21. < 60. 60° ‘60. 60:°60. 60: 60960 960° 6a 1007) 60 bob omOomrOoO 
Music «= 24.27... *60. 60 “60. 60°60 60: "60." 60... 60. 60,960" Gon 00) boMOOmOG 
Manual Arts . . © ‘0 6° 0 © ©& 1601.60 (90) .90.°100. go) 180) 1nhOMIsOmtOO 
Library’. . .-. 30 30° 30 30 60° 60 '60 60) 60. 6ofG6o ; 60560 60m Gom0o 
Play © 3. — 2 °IS0 150150 31S0 120 120% °60" 100) 4607 OORG0r- 00" Oo = sOnmnO ° 
TOTALS . . . .~. YOO 9OO 900 QoO 900 900 900 JOO 900 900 JOO JOO JOO JOO JOO Qo0 


There are six half-hour periods of special activities 
a day for each group, or thirty periods a week (6 X 5), 
and these periods must be definitely accounted for in 
the program, according to the number of periods in each 
subject for each grade. For example, a child in the 
third grade in a platoon school has daily instruction 
(five periods a week) in the gymnasium, the auditorium, 
the literature room, and the science room; instruction 
two periods a week in the art room, the music room, 
and the library; and four periods a week for play. 
This makes a total of thirty periods, which, in a cor- 
rectly made program, will always check with the third- 
grade designated period allotment for each subject. 

The distribution of the thirty half-hour periods of 
the week for all grades in all special activities will be 
found in the following table: 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 59 


TABLE VIIL— PERIOD DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIAL ACTIVITIES 





1b tA 2B 2A 3B 3A 4B 4A 5B sA 6B 6A 7B 7A 8B 8A 
RUCUUmEnS os weiss. Sh astee see 4A 4) 3) 35. ioe iS 
ee Oh: Fe SERED Rh acl oh Oe eh Sie hen Sai toe 
IBY ARs 6S 5 5 5 Awana 2 2 2 2 2 2 
Rareeesure AUG SO Sees Bree eS ENS, MeO SR WS) INS hy Sy. 5) Soh <5. WS 
polee Ce ts SoS er Sas aaah SS se Some Ss oes) Sh SS gM eee 
ISIC MON yee 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 
Applied Art 2 2 2 2 2 2 Phe ye hel a) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 
Pibrary ees. 4 I I I 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 
Manual Arts 3 3 3 3 6 6 6 6 
TOTAL Omens OES OMS OMS ONTO TSO MZ ONO UN 30183030 6n36 011300030 ZO 


Planning classes. In the actual making of the pro- 
gram care must be exercised not only in following the 
correct time allotment, but also in scheduling classes 
so that subjects will occur in the desired sequence. 
Classes must also be planned so as to equalize all 
teachers’ time, giving to each a five-hour teaching day 
and two half-hour rest periods. 

In scheduling classes, effort must be made to have 
all primary classes assigned to the nature room for 
science, and all middle and upper-grade classes to 
science rooms equipped for geography and history. 

All manual arts classes must be scheduled in three 
consecutive half-hour periods, and all art classes above 
the third grade in two consecutive periods. 

It is not desirable to assign play and gymnasium 
activities in the same session or two periods of any 
activity for the same day. 

In doubling groups in the auditorium, gymnasium, 
and playcourt, care must be exercised to combine 
groups of about the same grade so that subject matter 
may be easily adapted. Ina twenty-four section school, 
because of the twelve half-hour periods a day, double 
groups may be put in the above departments every 
period, while in the other smaller types single groups 
will necessarily be found at times in these departments. 


60 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Teachers’ work should be assigned on the basis of 
subject and grade, so that too great a variety of sub- 
jects and grade range of pupils may be avoided. A 
twenty-four section school on the Detroit plan works 
out as the best type for division of teachers’ work. In 
smaller types, where the number of pupils enrolled is 
less, it is often necessary for the work of teachers to 
overlap as far as subjects are concerned. However, by 
careful assignment programs in any type of platoon 
school, the work of teachers may be equalized. It 
is through this equalization that the schedule show- 
ing the number of teachers required for each type of 
school has been determined. (See page 55.) 

Administrative details. Administrative details may 
be classified under the following captions : 


(1) Care of books and supplies 
(2) Care of wraps 

(3) Arrangement of recess DenOds 
(4) Relief teachers 

(5) Records of attendance 

(6) Seating of special rooms 


Care of books and supplies. Convenient disposition 
of supplies and textbooks, which might appear to be a 
complicated problem, has been provided for without 
great difficulty in each platoon school. 

If free textbooks are used, the organization permits 
of considerable economy in the use of books. In home 
rooms, two groups of pupils use one set of books. 
Paper is distributed by the teacher when needed. 
A few extra copies of basal texts are supplied to each 
home room for the use of pupils who may care to take 
them home. The books which are used in common by 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 61 


two pupils may be kept in the desk. It is desirable 
for each pupil to have a small bag or box in which he 
may store his individual property such as pencils, pens, 
erasers, etc. Both bags may remain together in one 
desk, or one set may be placed in one of the supply 
cabinets in the room, while the other set is being used. 
The dual use of one home room desk by two pupils 
need cause no confusion or friction if the plan of ad- 
ministration is carefully thought out in advance. 

In each of the special rooms — the art room, the music 
room, the literature room, and the science room—all 
books, apparatus, and specific materials pertaining to 
each of the special subjects are kept. This permits econ- 
omy in the use of supplemental readers, music readers, 
art books, geographies, and histories. It is not the in- 
tention to reduce the amount of money spent for books, 
but to direct the expenditure in such a way that each 
special room may have a more ample supply of sup- 
plementary and reference books for the pupils who 
work in the room. 

Care of wraps. In introducing the Bon organiza- 
tion into a building not erected especially for this 
type of school, the care of wraps becomes a problem 
to be solved in the light of local conditions in each 
building. Because wraps must be easily available for 
outdoor play without interrupting classroom work, 
space for wraps should be provided outside of school- 
rooms. In new buildings planned for the platoon 
organization the best and probably the cheapest ar- 
rangement is the location of steel lockers in corridors. 
This utilizes space which is of little value and locates 
the lockers in a place easily accessible. 


62 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


New buildings and many of the remodeled buildings 
in Detroit are now provided with hall lockers (15 * 15 
x 60 inches) with two compartments for wraps and 
two shelves in each locker. Two pupils use one locker 
of this type. In old buildings, classrooms which have 
adjoining cloakrooms with doors leading into a corridor 
are also convenient for the platoon organization, as 
pupils have access to wraps without interrupting class 
work. 

Arrangement of recess periods. The regular play 
periods and health education periods in the platoon 
school take the place of the usual recess in the non- 
platoon school. The platoon school schedule provides, 
however, for a short basement recess both morning 
and afternoon. The administration of recesses de- 
pends upon the toilet facilities of the buildings. 

The short recess period which is solely for the pur- 
pose of giving pupils access to toilet facilities is grad- 
ually being replaced by the individual recess. In a 
school directed by a capable administrative head there 
appears to be no reason why individual pupils may 
not be allowed to leave the room at such times as they 
may elect. This saves the time ordinarily allotted 
for a general basement recess. 

Relief teachers. In assignment of teachers’ work 
great care has been taken to avoid overburdening 
teachers. No teacher is expected to teach over five 
hours a day and each teacher is entitled to two half- 
hour rest periods daily. To provide for this, relief 
teachers are employed who have no regular rooms 
but who go from room to room relieving other teachers. 
All relief teachers teach ten thirty-minute periods a day. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 63 


The assistant’ principal, who in traditional schools 
has charge of the highest room in the building, in the 
larger platoon schools has been made either entirely or 
partly a “‘ free first assistant.’ The time during which 
the first assistant is free from teaching is devoted to 
administrative or supervisory work in the building. 

In the Detroit plan the following schedule for dis- 
tribution of first assistants’ time is in use: 


TABLE VIII— DIstrIBuTION oF TIME oF First ASSISTANTS 





SIZE OF SCHOOL INSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION 
12 section 100% fo) 
16 section 100% ° 
18 section 100% ° 
20 section 50% 50% 
24 section 334% 662% 


In schools larger than twenty-four sections, the time 
of the assistant is given over entirely to assisting the 
principal in administration and supervision. 

In the Detroit plan, home room teachers from Grades 
3 to 8 are relieved by penmanship relief teachers, who 
have the responsibility for the work in writing in the 
home rooms. 

Records of attendance. Each home room teacher is 
responsible for the attendance records of her two sec- 
tions of pupils. Special teachers codperate to the 
extent of assisting in the taking and recording of at- 
tendance and tardiness. They also assist the home 
room teachers in giving tests and in making the regu- 
lar routine reports. Each section has a class captain 
who carries an attendance record card with him from 
class to class. This card is checked by each special 


64 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


teacher to whom the section recites and when the 
group returns to the home room the card shows the 
complete record of attendance of the class from the 
beginning of the session. 

Seating of special rooms. Special rooms must be 
provided for pupils of various sizes from the first grade 
through the sixth grade or, in some instances, the 
eighth. This may be done by using two or three sizes 
of movable seats or tables and chairs of varying sizes. 
The auditorium is seated with two sizes of opera chairs, 
for the accommodation of younger and older children. 

Organization of instruction. In the several depart- 
ments of a platoon school the activities may be classified 
under the following captions : 


(1) Fundamentals 
(2) Leisure time 
(3) Health 

(4) Social-Civic 
(5) Social-Science 
(6) Vocational 


Fundamentals. The home room is the regular school 
home of the pupil. The home room teacher not only 
has the pupil under her control three hours of the day 
and exerts the same type of influence over him that 
the teacher has always exerted in the non-platoon 
school, but she also codperates with the other teachers 
in planning his work, keeps in touch with his progress 
and conduct, and communicates with his parents in 
all matters in which the codperation of the home and 
school is necessary. During at least two and one half 
hours of the day the pupil comes under her direct per- 
sonal instruction. 


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66 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


The home room teacher under this organization may 
become a specialist in the formal subjects. In the 
platoon schools the home room must care for the in- 
struction in arithmetic, spelling, reading, and part. of 
the work in English. The home room teachers teach 
five clock hours a day and have two thirty-minute 
rest periods. The work in penmanship is done by the 
home room relief teacher. The distribution of time 
for home room subjects is based upon the home room 
time allotment. (See page 58.) 

The home room organization, with the concentration 
of most of the instruction in the fundamentals in the 
hands of one teacher, is an important factor in the 
Detroit plan. It avoids the dangers that may arise 
from complete departmentalization in all subjects, 
and, at the same time, provides a type of organization 
which prepares a pupil to make the transition readily 
from the elementary school to the completely depart- 
mentalized intermediate and high schools. 

Whether justly or not the public still rates instruction 
in the so-called ‘‘fundamental subjects”’ as of first im- 
portance. The traditional school has always empha- 
sized this phase of school work. 

In the platoon school the major part of the instruc- 
tion in fundamentals is done in the home room, by one 
teacher, and under conditions more favorable than 
those prevailing in the non-platoon schools. The 
new school does not neglect the three R’s either in the 
matter of emphasis, or in the amount of time devoted 
to them. 

Letsure time. — (a) Music room. ‘This room is re- 
served for regular instruction in music. Its seats ac- 


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68 THE. PLATOON SCHOOL 


commodate pupils of all grades and generally speaking 
every pupil has two thirty-minute periods a week in 
this room. The teacher gives instruction ten thirty- 
minute periods a day and has two rest periods. 

There is very close codperation between the work of 
the music department and that of the auditorium. 
The technical music and preliminary chorus work are 
done in the music room and brought to the auditorium 
for further interpretation and polish. The dramatic 
work of the literature room and auditorium and the 
chorus work of the music room are used as the founda- 
tions of operettas, cantatas, and pageants. These 
productions aid in developing the dramatic and musi- 
cal possibilities of the children and help to promote 
a good school spirit. In a number of schools the 
music teacher trains and directs an elementary school 
band or orchestra. 

The purpose behind the instruction in music may be 
clearly expressed in the following quotation : ! 

For music, the new method means renewed life and spirit. It 
means teaching children instead of teaching music. It means 
capitalizing the natural joyous emotionalism of childhood and 
turning it into organized, beneficial, and artistic channels of expres- 
sion. It means increased opportunities to make daily lessons the 
series of happy, friendly, social occasions which the best teachers of 
music have always made them even in the face of unfavorable 
conditions. More specifically, the successful modern teacher will 
study the children in her classes to determine each day their domi- 
nant emotional state. She will consult their tastes and inclinations 
and aid them in selecting those songs and exercises which contribute 
most to their needs. The first, last, and most evident character- 
istic of the music lesson will be the making of music. In other 


words the teacher’s chief concern will be to make music function in 
the lives of the children, knowing full well that imperfection in 


1 Introduction to Detroit Course of Study in Music. 


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‘MOO! We UY —<“9 ‘DIY 





EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION aL 


functioning and achievement will create a demand on the part of the 
children for drill in those elements which contribute most to greater 
skill. Under such conditions it is easy to get children to adopt ever 
higher and higher standards and to form wider and more worthy 
purposes. It is natural also, for those who themselves love and 
use music, daily to give attention to and appreciate more truly, the 
musical activities of others. 


(b) Art room. ‘This room is for special training in 
applied art. The teacher is an art specialist, who 
teaches ten half-hour periods a day with two half-hour 
periods for rest. Besides developing art appreciation, 
the art room affords training in the selection of mate- 
rial related to various life situations, such as home 
planning, garden designing, making of clothing, and 
the like. In the art room also are developed types of 
work closely correlated with the activities of other de- 
partments of the school. 

(c) Literature room. This is a room provided for 
the purpose of emphasizing the appreciation side of 
literature. The teacher is selected with reference 
to her own literary appreciation and her ability to 
interpret child literature and arouse enthusiasm for it. 
The telling and retelling of stories, the reading and 
reciting of poetry, and the informal dramatization of 
stories are the prominent features of literature room 
work. The literary material considered in this room 
may form the basis for dramatic work in the auditorium 
and at times the preliminary preparation for the more 
formal dramatic work may be done in the literature 
room. The teacher of this room codperates closely 
with the auditorium teachers. 

The literature room, which exists primarily to de- 
velop literary appreciation, also shares with the home 


‘uml0Ol ye UY— “2 ‘OLY 








“WOOL DINPELOU] WY — °8 ‘OI 





74 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


room the responsibility for the more formal aspects 
of English instruction. The distribution of the work 
between the two rooms is indicated below: 


TABLE IX — DISTRIBUTION OF TIME— LITERATURE Rooms AND HoME 
Rooms 


LITERATURE ROOMS 


Grades 1-8 — Appreciation and Composition 
Composition (oral and written) 60 minutes per week 
Appreciation (stories and poems) go minutes per week 


HOME ROOMS 
Grades 5-6 — Composition and Language Habits 


Composition (oral and written) 40 minutes per week 
Language Habits 60 minutes per week 
Grades 7-8 — Composition and Technical Work 
Composition (oral and written) 60 minutes per week 
Technical Work- go minutes per week 
Health. — (a) Gymnasium. A_ platoon school is 


regularly provided with a gymnasium sufficiently large 
to house eighty pupils, and if possible with additional in- 
door play space to be used in inclement weather. Each 
school has a corps of two or more health teachers who 
direct the activities in the gymnasium and on the play- 
ground. One of these teachers is a director, who has 
charge of the department and receives additional 
compensation. 

In the gymnasium all the best recognized types of 
elementary school health work are carried on. With 
the smaller children dramatic games and marching play 
an important part. The older pupils have formal 
exercises, games, folk dances, and drills. Basketball 
is a popular indoor game and soccer is very popular 
for outside work. All the older children participate in 
individual “ stunts.” 

(b) Play. In addition to the regular half-hour 
daily period for health work, an outdoor play period 
is scheduled. 


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‘umIseuulAs WY — ‘OI ‘Oly 





EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION he 


Provision for an outdoor play period presupposes a 
place to play. As the playground is used almost con- 
stantly, it is desirable that every platoon building be 
provided with play space sufficiently large to permit 
every child to have at least one period daily for some 
kind of health exercise. In the new buildings this has 
been arranged for by building covered outdoor play- 
courts or indoor playcourts in addition to the gymna- 
siums. 

The health education department codperates closely 
with the auditorium. Drills, dances, and _ stunts 
from the gymnasium are frequently reproduced in 
the auditorium. Dances and drills which form a part 
of operettas and plays are developed in the gymnasium. 
The health teachers also make practical application 
of the socialized hygiene taught in the auditorium. 

The function of health education in relation to the 
great social objectives may be shown as in Figure 12 
and in the following outline: 


TABLE X — Arms AND PROBLEMS OF HEALTH INSTRUCTION ! 


1. The aim is to give the child increased physical ability, to insure normal growth, to decrease 
ree to avoid accidents, to overcome defects, and to make possible an abundance of energy and 
vitality. 

2. The major problems about which this health program will be developed are: 


(1) Normal growth (4) Safety 

(2) Decreased illness (5) Physical performance 

(3) Physical defects (6) Increased energy and 
vitality 


3. In general each of the above major problems will be developed from the standpoint of 
the following contributing factors: 


(1) Food (4) Exercise (7) Posture 
(2) Rest (5) Clothing (8) Leisure time 
(3) Air (6) Cleanliness (9) Qualities of mind 


4. The general method of teaching each of the six major problems should be as follows: 

Observe physical likeness and differences and relate them to (1) normal growth; (2) de- 
creased illness; (3) physical defects; (4) safety education; (5) physical performance; (6) in- 
creased energy and vitality. 

Relate the factors contributing to health (food, rest, air, etc.) to each of the major problems. 


1 Course of Study in Health Instruction, Detroit Public Schools. 


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80 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Social-Civic. — (a) The auditorium. The auditorium 
of the platoon ‘school adds to the elementary school 
an entirely new and important socializing unit which 
the non-platoon school did not have. The possi- 
bilities of this unit are almost unlimited. When its 
possibilities are finally worked out and realized it 
will probably be found to be one of the most effective 
educational forces in the entire organization. 

The auditorium does not have the atmosphere or the 
paraphernalia of the schoolroom. It has rather the 
general spirit of freedom from restraint found in an 
ordinary public assembly. Here pupils meet in larger 
groups of their fellows and participate in those ac- 
tivities which make them conscious of their social re- 
lationships and teach them how to act and react among 
their companions. 

As at present organized, an auditorium provides for 
each group of eighty pupils a thirty-minute period dur- 
ing the day. It is in constant charge of two teachers 
who are selected because of their special fitness. The 
two teachers share the work. Generally speaking one 
teacher is a primary grade specialist and the other is a 
grammar grade expert. These teachers codperate with 
the teachers of other departments in planning audi- 
torium activities. Each auditorium teacher is paid a 
salary in excess of the regular elementary school salary. 

As an integral part of the elementary school the audi- 
torium has two distinct functions: 

(1) As a socializing unit. 

(2) As an integrating and correlating unit. 

The auditorium as (1) a socializing unit seeks to bring 
to bear upon the children all of those influences which 


‘umntioyIpne ue ut dnois a81e] WY — ‘LI “OT 


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82 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


will help them to realize the great social aims. All audi- 
torium activities have behind them the social motive. 
Thus, in this unit of the school, teachers consciously and 
definitely attempt to train children for social life and for 
citizenship. The development of auditorium possibili- 
ties is still in an experimental stage, but enough has been 
done to convince the most skeptical that this is an 
educational factor which is destined to be recognized 
in the future not only in elementary education but in 
intermediate and secondary schools as well. 

The various types of auditorium activities which so 
far have been developed and the social aims which they 
are intended to realize may be stated as follows: 


(1) Health: 
Personal hygiene. 
Civic hygiene. 
(2) Civic Ideals: 
Rights and duties of citizens. 
Loyalty to city, state, and nation. 
Interest in the welfare of the community. 
Knowledge of social agencies and institutions. 
(3) Worthy Use of Leisure Time : 
Recreation of mind, body, and spirit. 

Music — Vocal, instrumental, piano, phonograph, school 
orchestra, chorus, cantata, community singing, patriotic 
songs. 

Literature — Story telling, reading, biography, recitation, 
debate, parliamentary procedure. 

Drama — Dramatizations, based on literature, history, and 
geography, and combined with music. Pageants. 

Picture projection — Stereopticon and moving pictures 
related to science, art, geography, travel, history, and 
literature. 

Avocational interests — Making and exhibiting collections 
or products of the avocational activities of children. 

(4) Ethical Ideals : 
Use of activities included under (3). 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 83 


(5) Vocational Guidance (schools having seventh and eighth 
grades) : 
Turning pupil’s attention to vocations of community. 
Arousing him to test out and determine his own interests, 
capacities, and aptitudes in vocational lines. 
Reports in writing on various community activities. 
Coéperation with the Manual Training, Domestic Science, 
and Domestic Art Departments. 
(6) Worthy Home Membership : 
Discussion of relationship of pupil to home and members of 
family. 
His responsibilities and duties. 
Use of stories and poems to idealize and interpret home 
relationships. 
(7) Miscellaneous Activities : 
Public assemblies — Invited speakers. 
Various types of civic or welfare campaigns. 
Thrift. 
Safe living. 
Clean-up day. 
Swat the fly. 
Open days. 
Festival days. 


Auditoriums are equipped with moving-picture 
booths and apparatus for the projection of slides and 
moving pictures. The Board of Education of Detroit 
has a collection of 8,000 educational slides that are 
available at all times so that some stereopticon work 
may be done daily. At regular intervals the entire 
time of the auditorium is given over to moving pic- 
tures. Advance notices of the films to be shown are 
sent to schools, and films adapted to both primary and 
grammar grades are selected. 

Auditoriums are supplied with phonographs and a 
library of records is owned by the Board of Education. 
Pupils constantly hear good vocal and instrumental 


84 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


music and musical instruction is frequently given for 
the specific purpose of developing musical appreciation. 

In the non-platoon school organization general wel- 
fare campaigns (Community Fund, Thrift Week, 
Clean-up Week, etc.) break in upon the day’s work 
and greatly diminish the effectiveness of the teachers’ 
efforts. In the platoon school, the auditorium, organ- 
ized as it is for social and civic service, can take over 
all such enterprises and the children can be reached 
during the auditorium period so that the regular work 
of the school does not suffer in any respect. 

In a like manner the auditorium can take over the 
celebration of national holidays, féte days, and birth- 
days of famous people, thus relieving the regular room 
of this responsibility. 

Teachers who have had experience in the platoon 
school appreciate very keenly the service which the 
auditorium renders in relieving the regular room 
teacher from participation in the many activities 
which in themselves are socially worthwhile, but which 
greatly interfere with the pupil’s progress in the three 
R’s. The auditorium finds in these activities only an- 
other opportunity to help the pupils to become socially 
efficient and to realize their responsibilities to the 
community. 

The auditorium may be (2) an integrating and cor- 
relating unit. It is frequently advanced against de- 
partmentalization and specialization in elementary 
schools that such organization tends toward disintegra- 
tion, that the specialist feels a responsibility only for 
his own work, and that as a result the combined efforts 
of the special or departmental teachers to educate the 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 85 


child lack unity of purpose. It is urged that, in a de- 
partmentalized school, instead of having a series of ex- 
periences which are related and which have a common 
end, what the pupil really has is a series of unrelated 
experiences in which he realizes no common purpose. 
The result is disintegration. 

That this argument may have a certain validity is 
not denied. It is possibly true that in many cases in 





Fic. 14. — A group in an auditorium. 


which one teacher teaches all of the subjects to each 
pupil in her room there may be closer integration. It 
is also true, however, that in a non-platoon school where 
this takes place there is practically no integration of 
the work of the several rooms in the building. Each 
teacher is to a large degree an isolated unit. Fre- 
quently she does not know the work of the grades which 
precede or follow, so that we can say that the pupil’s 


PLATOON ACTIVITIES AUDITORIUM ACTIVITIES 


HYGIENE 
Personal 
Civic 
CIVICS 
Duties of Citizenship 
HORE ROOM Community Welfare 
Social & Civic Agencies 
LITERATURE 
Story Telling 
é. Recitation 
LIBRARY Debate 
Parliamentary Procedure 
DRAMA 
Dramatization Based on 
LITERATURE Literature 
History-Pageants 
Pantomime 
MUSIC 
MUSIC Chorus 
Piano 
Orchestra 
Victrola 
Cantata 
ART Community Singing 
Patriotic Songs 
PHYSICAL TRAINING 
AUDITORIUM Dances 
Marches 
Drills 
GYMNASIUM & PLAY PICTURES (PROJECTION) 
History 
Travel 
Art 
Nature 
CLINIC Industry 
Story 
Current Events 
PROPAGANDA 
Thrift 
HOUSEHOLD ARTS Safe Living 
Clean Up Day 
First Aid 
Food Conservation 
SHOPS Red Cross 
AVOCATIONAL INTERESTS 
Exhibits 
Collections 
VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 
SCIENCE HOME RELATIONSHIPS 
SPECIAL ACTIVITIES 
Open Days 
Assemblies 


Fic, 15.—The auditorium as an integrating and correlating center. 


EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 87 


school experience as a whole is a series of disintegrated 
and unrelated experiences. 

In the platoon school, departmentalization in special 
subjects exists in all grades. It is conceded that the 
work might become unrelated and disintegrated. It 
is not admitted that it necessarily must be so. On the 
contrary the platoon organization not only has possi- 
bilities for integration which make possible unified, 
purposeful educational effort all through the school, but 
it has possibilities for integrating the work of successive 
years so that the ultimate product of education in the 
grades may be a socialized American citizen. 

The platoon school has in the auditorium that which 
the traditional school does not have, an integrating, 
correlating force. If the aim of education is social and 
the distinct purpose of the auditorium is the socializa- 
tion of the pupil, why is it not reasonable to assume 
that the auditorium should be the point at which the 
activities of the whole school may focus? It is highly 
desirable that the experiences which the pupil has in the 
home room, the gymnasium, the playground, the music 
room, the literature room, or the studio shall be revived 
again in the auditorium, where they may be reinter- 
preted for him in terms of their social values. While 
it is not possible that all the teaching in the home 
rooms and special rooms can be thus integrated, it is 
possible, through the codperative efforts of all the 
teachers in the building, to focus the attention and 
interest of all the pupils on the auditorium activities, 
to make the pupils conscious of the fact that their 
experiences in all parts of the school function 1n various 
ways in the auditorium. They easily come to realize 


‘moor Apnys oinyeu YW — ‘OI “OLY 


LAs 





EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 89 


the relationship between the physical exercises of the 
gymnasium and the health talks of the auditorium ; 
between the geography lessons of the home or science 
room and the stereopticon pictures and moving pictures 
in the auditorium; and between the story-telling in the 
literature room, the music in the music room, and the 
Mother Goose operetta in the auditorium. 

In the platoon school, when fully developed and 
interpreted, the large social motives will be the impelling 
force, and the auditorium, which is the dominating 
socializing factor in the school, will become more and 
more prominent as the agency which will integrate and 
unify all the child’s experiences and interpret them to 
him in such a way that they will function socially when 
he goes out into life. 

Social-Science. The science rooms are organized 
specifically for nature study and geography in the first 
six grades and for history and civics in schools having 
the seventh and eighth grades. 

It is believed that the platoon school offers a satis- 
factory solution of the problem of teaching nature in the 
elementary schools. It seems indispensable that a 
child should secure such instruction as will bring to his 
notice and help him interpret the ordinary phenomena 
to be found in his immediate natural environment, but 
nature teaching in the hands of the regular elementary 
teacher has rarely proved successful. The establish- 
ment of a science room makes it possible to place in 
charge of this work a teacher who is a student and lover 
of nature and who has the insight and enthusiasm 
successfully to conduct this work with young children. 
The new buildings include two science rooms with 


"WIOOI syiv oIysowWIOp WY — ‘LI ‘OI 





EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION QI 


herbarium and aquarium and such other appurtenances 
as make the teaching of nature and geography ef- 
fective. 

The point of view in nature study may be discovered 
from the following statement ! of aims: 


1. To present material which will awaken the children’s interest 
and stimulate them to some form of investigational or observational 
activity. 

2. To assist them to plan such activities, and to carry them 
through to successful completion under their own direction. 

3. To bring to them progressively, newer and wider interpreta- 
tions of the results of such experiences. 


The test of success in nature study teaching is not 
knowledge but interest and curiosity.. If, as an out- 
come of the nature study work, children become ac- 
tively and permanently interested in nature so that 
they, of themselves and out of school hours, exhibit an 
inquiring mind and find pleasure and joy in the natural 
phenomena which hedge us about on every side, the 
purpose of this special type of work will have been 
achieved. 

Vocational activities. Classes in manual work and 
sewing are provided for pupils in Grades IV—V, and 
manual work in wood and instruction in cooking for 
those in Grade VI. Manual training rooms and cook- 
ing rooms each accommodate about twenty pupils at 
one time and in the general scheme of organization 
these two rooms count as one special room, twenty boys 
being cared for in one room and twenty girls in the 
other. For manual training and sewing in the earlier 
grades the boys and girls also are segregated in groups 


1 Course in Nature Study, Detroit Public Schools. 


‘WIOOI SjIv [enueUL YY — ‘gI ‘OY 








‘MIOOI DOUDTOS OI]SOWIOp YW — “61 “OIY 





04 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


of twenty. Pupils of the fourth grade have sixty 
minutes a weekand pupils of the fifth and sixth grades 
ninety minutes a week in manual arts and domestic 
science. In schools having the seventh and eighth 
grades, pupils have one hundred and eighty minutes a 
week in these subjects. 

The ultimate plan is to house all seventh- and eighth- 
grade children in large intermediate schools, and then 
the platoon school will become exclusively a six-grade 
school. A vocational course for the platoon school 
is in preparation which will embody a wider range 
of experiences than the schools now offer in this 
field. 

Auxiliary activities. — Library. In the development 
of schools of the platoon type, it is the purpose to 
emphasize library instruction as an integral part of the 
elementary curriculum. In the new buildings and in 
the remodeled old buildings a room especially built and 
equipped for library purposes is provided. It is the 
intention that from the earliest years of the elementary 
school to the end of the high school, children shall 
continually be brought into contact with a _ well- 
selected library and with library teachers who can 
direct their library reading, make them familiar with 
the uses of the library, and arouse in them an enthusi- 
asm for the right kinds of literature. 

At the present date (June, 1924), thirty-eight platoon 
schools have libraries in charge of teacher librarians. 
These libraries provide accommodations for a group of 
pupils each hour for directed study, reference work, and 
reading. 

The city time allotment contemplates one thirty- 


‘Areiqiyy ut dnois Aiewiig — ‘07 ‘Oly 





‘Areiqiy ut dnois opeis-yyysiq — ‘Iz ‘Oly 





EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 97 


minute library period a week in Grades I and II, and 
two thirty-minute periods a week in Grades III-VITI. 

Special rooms. As far as possible in each building 
there is provided some room for the training of children 
who in some way, physical or mental, depart from 
normal standards. These quarters house open-window 
classes, classes for blind, special classes for mentally 
subnormal children, speech correction classes, and 
classes for children suffering from cardiac defects. 

Lunch room. A desirable feature of a platoon school 
is a lunch room. In many districts a majority of 
the pupils live within a reasonable distance from the 
school and hence can go home for luncheon. The 
lunch room provides, for a nickel, a plate lunch con- 
sisting of a combination of foods approved. by the 
domestic science department. The menu is changed 
each day and is announced one week in advance. 
Pupils are urged to bring from home such articles of 
food as will harmonize with the luncheon menu for 
each day. 

The lunch room is operated under the direction of the 
domestic science department. 

Clinic. A school clinic is maintained in each build- 
ing by the Board of Health. Suitable quarters are 
planned in all new buildings with equipment adequate 
for the use of the physician and nurse. Children are 
inspected daily, and minor treatments given by those 
in charge. 

Kindergarten. The platoon organization does not 
affect in any way the established organization of the 
kindergarten. Pupils in this unit do not form a part 
of either platoon and consequently have no relation to 


‘uI0O! MOpUIM-UsdS UY — ‘zz “DIY 








Fic. 23. — A lunch room. 


100 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


the adjustments due to the introduction of this organ- 
ization. Kindergarten pupils have access to the 
auditorium and other facilities at the pleasure of the 
director of the kindergarten and the principal of the 
school. | 








inic. 


Fic. 24. — A cl 


‘uoyIesiopuly WY — ‘Sz “OT 





GAP TE Re UT 


EVOLUTION OF THE ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL BUILDING 


I. EUROPEAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS 


School architecture little considered. For many cen- 
turies the problem of school architecture, the question 
of the environment in which instruction should be 
given, scarcely arose, for teaching was an individual, 
personal matter, and the time and place were of sec- 
ondary importance. 

The cathedral, monastic, and chantry schools of the 
middle ages were conducted in close relationship with 
the other activities of the Church. In‘ the Saxon 
cathedrals, school was held in the north tower. As a 
general rule ‘‘the monastic school proper was con- 
ducted in a corner of the cloister, and there are still 
traces of the monastic schools at Canterbury and 
Westminster in the carving in the seats where the boys 
used to sit.””! 

Early English schoolhouses. When municipally con- 
trolled writing and reckoning schools were developed 
in the latter part of the middle ages they were prob- 
ably carried on in churches in the beginning, but 
later were conducted in separate quarters. In 
England the ancient grammar school consisted or- 
dinarily of a large hall in which pupils of various 


1 PARKER, S. C., History of Modern Elementary Education. 
103 


104 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


ages were grouped, and where instruction was given 
by one master, who was often assisted by pupils 
or assistant teachers. In later times classrooms were 
added for occasional use. While public elementary 
schools in the modern sense did not exist in England 
until the nineteenth century, the traditional grammar- 
school type of building with its large hall has influenced 
school architecture in England even down to the 
present day. Furthermore, the English idea of giving 
instruction to mixed groups in a large hall played an 
important part in American school architecture before 
the organization of the graded school plan in 1848. 


II. EARLY AMERICAN COLONIAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS 


New England schoolhouses. In the early days of the 
New England colonies, schoolhouses were of logs with 
a rough puncheon floor, and with seats and desks of 
rough boards placed around the walls. In the place of 
glass in the windows greased paper was used. 

During the first hundred years of the colonial period, 
school was frequently held in meeting houses. These 
buildings were in many respects superior to the log 
houses of the time and were in some communities uti- 
lized for town meetings and for sessions of the courts. 

The meeting house had a single doorway, two windows, and a 
chimney. The roof was of thatch. Probably the edifice never had 
a pulpit or pews. Backless benches served for seats, and the change 
to a school room was very easily made.! 

Dedham, Massachusetts, was one of the first towns 
to have a school supported by contributions from the 
general public. The records of the town describe the 


| JOHNSON, CLIFTON, Old Time Schools and School Books, pages 7-8. 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 105 


building which was erected in 1649. It was ‘“‘built to- 
gether with a watch house, the length 18 foote, the 
wideness, 15 foote; two convenient windows in the 
lower room and one in the chamber.”’! 

The watch house was ‘‘a lean-to set at the back of 
the chimney sixe foote wide.’’! School was taught in 





Fic. 26. — Old school in Dedham, Massachusetts. 


the main part of the building during the day and at 
night a sentinel kept his vigils in the lean-to in the 
rear. 

Not all New England schoolhouses of the colonial 
period were as substantial as the Dedham school, and on 
one pretense or another many communities failed to 
provide suitable buildings. The general indifference 
of the people toward schools is shown by the fact that 
in many localities classes were held in shops, barns, 
spare rooms of houses, and uninviting basements. 


' JOHNSON, CLIFTON, Old Time Schools and School Books, pages 7-8, 


106 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Schools in the South. Although the provision for 
school housing in colonial New England was meager 
and grossly inadequate, it was better than in other 


localities further south. | 
Clifton Johnson in Old Time Schools and School Books 





Fic. 27. — Log schoolhouse of colonial days. 


describes a Virginia school of the period before the 
Revolutionary War!: 

The building was of logs. It stood on blocks about two and a 
half feet from the ground and the space underneath formed a con- 
venient rendezvous for hogs and poultry. The interior was neither 
ceiled nor plastered. When it stormed, the rain was excluded by 


going outside and propping a square board against the window 
opening with a broken rail. 


Schools in the middle colonies. Johnson describes 
the schoolhouses of the middle colonies! as follows: 


1 JOHNSON, CLIFTON, Old Time Schools and School Books. 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 107 


The first schoolhouses in the middle colonies were of logs almost 
exclusively. Such school buildings were common in many sections 
for at least fifty years after the Revolution, and among the moun- 
tains they have lingered in use until quite recently. The earlier 
ones had rough puncheon floors, if they had any floors at all. Often 
there was only the bare earth and often it was very dirty. (On 
occasion the youngsters would purposely stir up this dust in clouds 
to annoy the teacher and amuse their fellows.) Sticks were inserted 
between the logs around the sides of the rooms at a convenient 
height and boards were nailed on them to serve as desks. 

Roofs were of bark, and at one end of the building was a chimney 
of short logs laid up cobhouse fashion and daubed with clay. Many 
of these schoolhouses, even to the borders of the nineteenth century, 
had no glass in their windows. The paper that served instead was 
greased with lard to make it transparent and less easily affected 
by wet. 


III. SCHOOLHOUSES OF THE PERIOD FROM THE 
REVOLUTIONARY WAR TO 1850 


Causes for poor school buildings. During the period 
from the close of the Revolutionary War to 1840 
the district school flourished. Shifting responsibil- 
ity for the maintenance of schools from the town 
to the small school district was a backward step in 
education, and has retarded the development of schools, 
especially in rural districts, down to the present day. 
In the early post-Revolutionary period, owing to the 
conditions brought about by the war, the general pov- 
erty of the people, and the laxity in governmental 
control, it was difficult to keep alive any kind of school 
organization. For this reason, even as late as the 
middle of the nineteenth century, many districts in 
the West were without schoolhouses, and _ classes 
were held in hired rooms, equipped with desks and 
benches. 


108 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


A very vivid picture of conditions relating to school 
housing se to about 1840 is revealed by the reports of 
the superintendents of 
public instruction of 
the several states which 
were published by 
Henry Barnard in 
1848. To those who 
are familiar with the 
modern school build- 
ing, especially as it 
exists in larger com- 
munities, the condi- 
tions under which our 
grandfathers attended 
school are almost un- 
believable. 

Barnard in his note- 

Fic. 28. — Henry Barnard. worthy book on School 
Architecture, published in 1848, referring to school build- 
ings as they then existed, said : 





They are, almost universally, badly located, exposed to the noise, 
dust, and danger of the highway, unattractive, if not positively 
repulsive in their external and internal appearance, and built at the 
least possible expense of material and labor. They are too small. 
They are badly lighted. They are not properly ventilated. They 
are imperfectly warmed. They are not furnished with seats and 
desks, properly made and adjusted to each other, and arranged in 
such a manner as to promote the comfort and convenience of the 
scholars. They are deficient in all those in- and out-door arrange- 
ments which help to promote habits of order and neatness, and 
cultivate delicacy of manners and refinement of feeling. 


Descriptions. A typical description of district 
schools in Connecticut in 1848 is given by the Superin- 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 109 


tendent of Common Schools, Hon. Seth P. Beers, in 
his Annual Report for that year: 


How surprising and disgraceful is the fact that a very large 
proportion of the schoolhouses of our state present vastly fewer 
attractions, in point of comfortable arrangements and tastefulness, 
than are seen about our poor houses, our jails, and our penitentiary ! 
. .. The schoolhouses are all located directly on the road or in 


it . . . with no playground except the highway, which the children, 
in several districts, have to share in common with geese and swine. 
. .. six of nine schoolhouses in this society are wooden ones, and 





Fic. 29. — Old-time district schoolhouse. 


they generally bear a time-honored, weather-beaten aspect. 
Unpainted and blindless, with clapboards agape to catch the winds 
of winter, and window panes rattling, or falling from decayed sash, 
they present a most forlorn and gloomy aspect. . . . The internal 
condition of these schoolhouses is in perfect keeping with the exter- 
nal. In several of them, the plastering is broken and missing, to 
say nothing of the dark and dingy color of what remains. The 
stoves are smoky and the benches and desks are so high as to be 
better adapted to the children of a race of giants, than to those of the 
present generation; and these are hacked and gashed by the pupils, 
as if in retaliation for the torture suffered from them.! 


1 JOHNSON, CLIFTON, Old Time Schools and School Books. 


I1O THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Horace Mann, in a report made in 1846, said: 


In 1837 not one-third part of the public schoolhouses in Massa- 
chusetts would have been considered tenantable by any decent 
family, out of the poor house or in it. 


In Michigan in 1847, Hon. Ira Mayhew, Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction, in his report, says: 
Exclusive of entry and closets, schoolhouses are not usually 


larger than twenty by twenty-four feet on the ground and seven 
feet high. . . . They are usually occupied by at least forty-five 


| 





STOVE! 


DESK 





TEACHERS, 


| 


Fic. 30. — Floor plan of an old-time district school. 


scholars in the winter season; not infrequently sixty or seventy and 
occasionally more than a hundred scholars occupy a room of this 
size. . .. A schoolroom of the preceding dimensions does not 
contain a sufficient quantity of air to sustain the healthy respiration 
of even forty-five scholars for three hours, the usual length of each 
session; and frequently the schoolhouse is imperfectly ventilated 
between sessions at noon, or indeed for several days in succession. 
The ordinary facilities for ventilating schoolrooms are opening a 
door or raising the lower sash of the windows. The prevailing prac- 
tice with reference to ventilation is opening and closing the door, 





t school. 


1C 


istr 


ior of an old d 


Inter 


ahs 


FIG 


Re: THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


as the scholars enter and pass out of the schoolhouse, before school, 
during the recesses, and at noon.! 

In the forties, the internal arrangements of the one- 
room school buildings were much alike everywhere. 
Along the walls on three sides were sloping shelves 
for desks. Parallel with these were long benches with- 
out backs. Pupils while at work faced the wall or the 
windows if there were any. In the middle of the room 
was the stove. Across 
the front of the building 
was a narrow hall or 
entry where pupils kept 
their wraps. The ac- 
commodations in these 
halls were very inade- 
quate. 

Suggestions for im- 
provement. The sub- 
ject of school architec- 
ture received little at- 
tention in this country 
2 _ before 1838, when Hor- 

FIG. 32. — Horace Mann. ace Mann submitted a 
Report on Schoolhouses 

as a part of his First Annual Report as Secretary 
of the Board of Education of Massachusetts. Pre- 
vious to this date there had been a few articles on 
school architecture in educational journals, and some 
addresses on the subject before the American Institute 
of Instruction. In 1830 this organization offered a prize 
of twenty dollars for the best Essay on the Construction 





1 JOHNSON, CLIFTON, Old Time Schools and School Books. 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 113 


of Schoolhouses. The prize was awarded to Dr. Wil- 
liam A. Alcott, Hartford, Connecticut, and the Essay 
was published and widely circulated. In 1838 Henry 
Barnard published a valuable Essay on School Archi- 
tecture. Ten years later he republished his Essay with 
plans and descriptions of numerous schoolhouses which 


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Fic. 33. — One-room school floor plan recommended by Dr. W. A. 
Alcott in 1830. 













had been erected under his direction in Rhode Island 
and Connecticut. He also embodied in his publication 
plans and valuable building data furnished by Horace 
Mann and others. This volume contained the plan of 
the schoolroom recommended by Dr. Alcott in his 
Prize Essay and was substantially the same as that 
proposed by Horace Mann in 1838. 

This building as planned contained one room, 40 by 30 


114 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


feet in size, with a separate seat and desk for each of 
fifty-six pupils. The teacher’s platform, from one to two 
feet high, was reached by ascending steps. Back of the 
platform were spacious cabinets for books and appara- 
tus. There were separate entrances for boys and girls, 
each leading into a room for wraps. Between the two 
coat or wrap rooms was a small room which was 
used as a recitation room, a teacher’s or pupils’ retiring 
room, or on occasion as a place to interview parents. 
The school was heated by a stove in the main room 
or by a furnace in the basement and was ventilated 
by openings in the ceiling. The schoolroom was 
lighted by four windows on each side of the room. 
This plan was devised to overcome most of the dis- 
advantages and shortcomings then existing in schools. 
Its publication and general dissemination undoubtedly 
had a marked influence on school architecture through- 
out the country and particularly in rural districts. 
Infant or primary school buildings. With the in- 
troduction of the infant school in 1816 and its 
development into the primary school, younger chil- 
dren were housed in one-room schools, which could 
be erected in numbers sufficiently large to bring the 
facilities of the primary school to each neighborhood, 
without requiring small children to walk too great a 
distance. In Providence the primary school was 
housed on the first floor of the grammar school. In 
New York the schools of primary grade were either 
provided for on the first floor of the grammar schools 
under the title of Primary Departments or in public 
primary schools devoted exclusively to these grades. 
In Boston in 1847 a three-story primary school, the 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 115 


Ingraham Primary School, was erected. Each story 
contained a schoolroom with two small recitation rooms 
adjoining and the entire building was devoted to 
children of the primary grades. Horace Mann pro- 
nounced this building as “ perfect of its kind ’’ and 
said, ‘‘ It might well be called the model schoolhouse 
of the state, and in schoolhouses Massachusetts is a 
model for the World.” 

Grammar school buildings. The typical city gram- 
mar school building before 1848 followed the general plan 





SECOND FLOOR 


Fic. 34.— Second-floor plan of Jefferson Grammar School, Phila- 
delphia, 1836. 


of the old English grammar school. It embodied large 
assembly rooms and, inits later development, recitation 
rooms adjoining for the use of assistant teachers. This 
plan was especially well adapted to the requirements of 
the double-headed reading and writing school organiza- 
tion which was first introduced in Boston in 1789, and 
prevailed quite generally throughout the country until 
after 1848. In some cities two-story buildings were 
erected, but the three-story building was the most 


116 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


popular type. Frequently in such buildings the first 
floor was reserved for pupils of the primary grades, 
while the large halls and recitation rooms on the second 
and third floors were used by the reading and writing 
schools respectively. 

The Jefferson Grammar School erected in Philadel- 
phia in 1836 was a typical three-story building. The first 
story was reserved for the primary school, the second 
for the girls’ department of the grammar school, and 
the third for the grammar school boys. 

A typical Boston school of this period was the 
Brimmer Grammar School, erected in 1843. This was 
a three-story building, 74 by 50 feet. The first floor 
was divided into two small rooms and one larger room, 
303 by 50 feet, for the use of the primary school. The 
floor plans of the second and third floors were alike. 
The two upper floors had large halls 70 feet by 37 with 
two small recitation rooms. The larger rooms were 
lighted from three sides, and contained 118 desks with 
two chairs each. The writing school was housed on 
the top floor and the reading school on the floor below. 

Lancasterian schoolhouse. ‘The introduction of the 
Lancasterian Monitorial System brought with it certain 
architectural changes. However, the method of in- 
struction of the new system, which made_ neces- 
sary the grouping of large numbers of pupils in one 
room, harmonized with the “assembly hall” type 
of structure generally in vogue in cities before the 
middle of the nineteenth century. The Manual of 
the System of Primary Instruction Pursued in_ the 
Model Schools of the British and Foreign School Society, 
published in 1839, gave minute directions in regard 


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Fic. 35. — Second-floor plan of Brimmer Grammar School, Boston, 1843. 


118 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


to the arrangement of schools for mutual or monitorial 
instruction. The form of the room must be a parallelo- 
gram about twice as long as wide. The plan of room 
required to seat fifty-six pupils shows the chief char- 
acteristics of a monitorial schoolroom. The middle of 
the hall is occupied by forms and desks for all pupils. 
The semicircles on each side of the room mark the posi- 
tion of the reading classes while they are under the 





Fic. 36. — Floor plan of a monitorial school. 


instruction of monitors. The dimensions of a school- 
room for 300 children must be 623 by 34 feet; for 200 
children, 55 by 28 feet; and for 150 children, 524 by 
25 feet. 

The Lancasterian plan was very popular in the early 
part of the nineteenth century, but by 1845 it had been 
modified to a great extent and in its place had been 
adopted a mixed plan, which was applied quite 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 119 


generally in schools and buildings not primarily ar- 
ranged for the monitorial system. 


IV. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD SEGREGATION AND 
GRADED SCHOOLS 


A parallel movement. The evolution of the graded 
school organization in America paralleled very closely 
the development of school architecture and the erection 
of school buildings. In those communities which pos- 
sessed nothing but a one-room structure, the school was 
of necessity ungraded, and the instruction was largely 
individual. As soon as a school district found it possi- 
ble to provide two or more buildings, it became possible 
to classify pupils in rough grade-age groups designated 
by such terms as primary, intermediate, and grammar. 
Segregation of this sort was in vogue as early as 1820, 
and was quite general in cities by 1845. 

If a building contained several rooms and a large 
number of pupils, the next step toward the development 
of graded schools was possible. This step involved the 
segregation of all the pupils in the building on the basis 
of age and achievement. In cities where reading and 
writing schools prevailed such segregation was readily 
brought about. In reading and writing schools the 
master, his assistants, and the ushers each gave in- 
struction to separate groups. In the early days the 
various groups were taught in different corners of the 
large assembly hall, but in a later period a part of the 
classes were provided for in small recitation rooms 
adjoining the large hall. The Brimmer Grammar 
School, the floor plan of which is shown on page I17, 
is an example of a building in which segregated groups 


120 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


of pupils were given instruction simultaneously in a 
large hall and in the small recitation rooms adjoining. 

The final step in the development of the graded 
school organization was dependent. upon the erection 
of a building in which it would be possible to segregate 
all pupils in the school in small age-grade groups, each 
under the continuous instruction of one teacher. This 
innovation in school architecture perforce carried with 
it the abandonment of the wasteful reading-writing 
school organization, and the substitution of instruction 
in small age-grade groups. It also marked a turning 
point in elementary school architecture. ‘Thereafter 
the English idea of grouping all school activities in or 
around a central assembly hall was to be gradually 
abandoned and the assembly hall replaced by the small 
grade room as the prominent architectural unit. Large 
halls were included in elementary school buildings for 
many years thereafter, and in recent times are coming 
back into prominence as auditoriums for socialized 
instruction, as well as for community use, but the small 
room which was developed for the graded school still 
is the outstanding unit in elementary school archi- 
TECTUTE, 

Two Boston schoolhouses. The substitution of the 
graded plan for the prevailing reading-writing school 
organization was a radical departure from established 
procedure. It must not be assumed that the reorgani- 
zation came about quickly or without opposition. 
Schoolmasters then as now were conservative and held 
tenaciously to established standards. The graded 
school idea long had been discussed by prominent edu- 
cators, and also had had the sanction of successful ex- 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 121 


perience abroad, but it did not find expression in 
this country in actual school practice until 1848. In 
that year a unique situation arose in Boston. Two 
new grammar schools radically different in archi- 
tecture were completed and ready for organization. 
One, the Bowdoin Grammar School, built along 
traditional lines, was organized in harmony with the 


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Fic. 37. — Third-floor plan of Bowdoin Grammar School, Boston, 1848. 


old ideals. The second, the Quincy Grammar School, 
was built along new lines, and organized in accord 
with the theories underlying the graded school idea. 
The erection and organization in the same year of 
these two opposing types of elementary schools fur- 
nished convincing evidence that in Boston in 1848 
school authorities were far from being unanimous in 
their approval of the new graded plan. 


122 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


The Bowdoin Grammar School was a three-story 
structure, the third floor of which included a hall, 38 
by 72 feet, with seats for 180 pupils. Adjoining the 
hall were two small recitation rooms and a small library 
room. 

The second floor was divided into two rooms, each 
with seats for 90 pupils, together with two recitation 


BOWDOIN GRAMMAR SCHOOL HOUSE 


PLAN OF FIRST AND SECOND FLOOR 


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Fic. 38. First- and second-floor plan of Bowdoin Grammar School, 


Boston, 1848. 


rooms, and a small room for a library. The first floor 
corresponded to the second, except that each room on 
the first floor had a capacity of too pupils. 

The Bowdoin School was a girls’ school, and con- 
tained two distinct departments, the grammar (read- 
ing) department and the writing department, each with 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 123 


a separate and independent master. ‘There were four 
assistant female teachers in each department, inde- 
pendent of the master and teachers of the other de- 
partment. ‘The master of the grammar department 
and two of his assistants occupied the large hall on the 
third floor. Two other assistants occupied one of the 
rooms on the first floor. The master of the writing de- 





Fic. 39. — Quincy Grammar School, Boston, 1848. 


partment and two assistants occupied the rooms on the 
second floor, and two other assistants the second room 
on the first floor. The school was divided into five 
classes and each class into two divisions. One week the. 
first division of each class attended the grammar de- 
partment in the morning, while the second division 
attended the writing department. In the afternoon the 
second division attended the grammar department and 


124 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


the first division the writing department. The following 
week the order was reversed. 

The Bowdoin Grammar School, therefore, with 
slight modifications, might be considered a_ typical 
reading and writing school of the traditional type. Its 


















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Fic. 40. — Fourth-floor plan of Quincy Grammar School, Boston, 1848. 







organization in 1848 shows that the influence of the 
conservatives was still strong, and that the Quincy 
Grammar School, organized in the same year, must 
have been a concession to the progressives and in the 
nature of an experiment. 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 125 


The Quincy Grammar School was a four-story build- 
ing. The fourth floor was occupied by a large hall with 
seats for 700 children. Above this floor was an attic 
for physical exercises. The third floor was divided by 

























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Fic. 41. — First-, second-, and third-floor plan of Quincy Grammar 
School, Boston, 1848. 

a corridor 8 feet wide with two small rooms on each 

side. The rooms were 31} by 26% feet and each con- 

tained desks and chairs for 56 pupils. Two of the 

schoolrooms had small rooms (10 X II) adjoining to 

provide for the children’s wraps. The other two 


126 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


schoolrooms were provided with inside closets for the 
same purpose. Each room had composition black- 
boards, and each desk had an inkstand with a revolving 
metal cover. The second and first floors were dupli- 
cates of the third. This building was built to house 
the new graded school organization. The complete 
school was divided into four classes and each class of 
168 pupils into three divisions. On the third floor were 
housed the first division of the first class under the 
principal, and the several divisions of the second class. 
On the second floor the sub-master instructed the 
second division of the first class, with the several 
divisions of the third class under his assistants. On the 
first floor the usher instructed the third division of the 
first class and his assistants taught the several divisions 
of the fourth class. The entire school assembled in 
the large hall on the fourth floor for devotional and 
general exercises. | 

The Quincy Grammar School was described in 1874 
by its principal, John D. Philbrick, as follows: ! 


(1) It was large. Up to this time a grammar school with 400 
pupils was considered very large. This building had 660 seats in the 
school rooms exclusive of the halls. 

(2) It contained a separate schoolroom for each teacher, 12 in 
all, and of course, recitation rooms were not needed. 

(3) It contained a hall large enough to seat comfortably all the 
pupils that could be accommodated in the schoolrooms, and even 
more. 

(4) It contained a clothes room attached to each schoolroom. 

(5) It contained a separate desk and chair for each pupil, this 
being probably the first grammar school house, here or elsewhere, so 
far as I know, into which this feature was introduced. 


1 PHILBRICK, J. D., Twenty-ninth Semi-annual Report (September, 
1874), pages 10-12. 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 127 


(6) It was four stories high — the first of this height — the hall 
covering all of the fourth story. 

All the grammar school houses since built in this city are of this 
type. Modifications and improvements, more or less important, 
have been from time to time introduced, but the type has not 
changed. 

The erection of the Quincy Grammar School marks a 
distinct epoch in American education, because it 
established a new standard of grammar school archi- 
tecture, which brought with it a new type of grammar 
school organization. 

If we place beside this description of the Quincy 
Grammar School of 1848, a description of a typical 
present day grammar school, we cannot fail to notice 
a great similarity. For it is true that the box-like 
school structures which dot the landscape all over our 
land and which with minor modifications are still being 
erected in villages, towns, and cities, are, to all intents 
and purposes, replicas of this old school built seventy- 
five years ago. To be sure, styles in school architec- 
ture have changed and we now seldom erect three- or 
four-story buildings. Further, by various devices we 
have made our schools more healthful and comfortable, 
but the general space distribution does not materially 
differ from that of the old school of 1848. 


V. IMPORTANT FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEVELOP- 
MENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE 


The development of elementary school architecture 
in this country since 1850 has been influenced largely 
by three factors: 

(1) Changing educational ideals and aims as ex- 
pressed in the curriculum and methods of instruction. 


128 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


(2) Growth of scientific knowledge in regard to 
health. 

(3) Considerations involving the safety of children 
while attending school. 

Changing educational ideals and aims. School 
architecture of the present day had its beginnings in 
ecclesiasticism. The schoolhouse evolved from the 


Kindergarten 


(60) 





U7 Uftt. 


Fic. 42.— Plan of traditional elementary school building prior to 1900. 


church and still has characteristics which point to its 
religious origin. All of the old churches and many 
modern ones have towers and spires. Most school- 
houses erected over a quarter of a century ago also 
have these architectural features. 

As long as the individual method of instruction pre- 
vailed generally, it had little influence on school 
architecture. With the coming of the monitorial 
system, as we have seen, rooms were made larger and 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 129 


seating arrangements were adjusted for group work. 
The graded system brought still another radical change 
as exemplified in the Quincy Grammar School, 1848. 

The effect upon school architecture of the expansion 
of the curriculum from 1850 to 1924 is clearly indicated 
by the evolution of elementary school buildings in 
Detroit during that period. 

Before 1870 the hall idea in school buildings as 1l- 
lustrated by the fourth floor of the Quincy Grammar 
School had begun to disappear. Soon after 1875 the 
prevailing styles in elementary architecture shifted 
from three-story to two-story buildings comprising 
a number of classrooms of uniform size. 

Prior to 1900 there was no deviation from this plan, 
except to provide a special room for the kindergarten. 
Buildings of this period may be diagrammatically 
shown, as in Figure 42. 

This cut represents a building of eighteen class- 
rooms with the kindergarten as an added facility. 
Previous to 1906 a regular classroom was used for the 
kindergarten, but after that date a room especially 
arranged for the kindergarten was included in the 
plans. 

In the two decades following 1900, the introduction 
of manual arts and home economics resulted in the 
expansion of the traditional building to provide for 
instruction in these new subjects. Figure 43 shows 
the space distribution in a building of this period. 

The shaded area indicates that portion of the space 
(exclusive of the kindergarten) which is in continual 
use. The unshaded portions on the right indicate space 
which serves to increase instructional space, but does 


130 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


not add to capacity. Rooms for manual arts and 
home economics were usually provided on the base- 
ment floor. 

In the period from 1918 to 1922, influenced by the 
great social aims in education, and in response to the 
requirements of the platoon type of organization, 
elementary school architecture in Detroit was radically 
modified. To the floor space of the schools of the 


7 
















Kindergarten 


Y 


aoa = 
= 


Fic. 43. — Plan of Ctl — school building (1900-1918). 
Capacity 720 children, exclusive of kindergarten. 


(60) 


previous period were added a library, an auditorium, 
a gymnasium, and an indoor playroom. 

Figure 44 shows the space distribution in the en- 
larged building. The shaded portion indicates the 
space regularly occupied by pupils while the unshaded 
portions (except kindergarten) show auxiliary or sup- 
plemental space, which, as has been previously shown 
(page 53), with the traditional grammar school or- 
ganization in operation, does not add to the school’s 
capacity. 

Health. Before Henry Barnard wrote on the sub- 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 131 


ject in 1848, very little attention had been paid to the 
demands of hygiene and sanitation in housing school 
children. If we contemplate the environment in which 
our great-grandfathers and grandmothers received 
their schooling, we find that the outstanding features 
are the small, unsanitary, poorly ventilated, badly 
heated, and inadequately lighted schoolrooms with 
their hard, uncomfortable, unhygienic seats and desks. 
This was true not only of the schools of colonial days, 
but also of the district schools before 1840. The 
Neate of oan of schools from 1844 to 





, Be We 


Fic. 44. — A school nnn on ee non-platoon plan. Capacity 
720 pupils, exclusive of 60 in kindergarten. 


1848 show an appalling condition. Horace Mann 
stated in 1846 that “stables for cattle and the folds 
for sheep were superior to the houses provided for 
school children.’’ In- New York state in 1844 over 
three thousand ‘schools were reported as “‘ unfit for 
man or beast.’’ Over six thousand school buildings 
in that state had no toilet facilities whatever and 
1‘ barents who desired to preserve the health and 
morals of their children excluded them from the dis- 


‘ Report of Hon. Samuel Young, Superintendent of Common 
School, N.Y., 1844. 


132 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


trict schools and provided instruction of a private 
nature.”’ 

It was against such conditions that Mann and Bar- 
nard made their fight, and the principles of sanitation 
laid down by Barnard in his School Architecture (1848) 
set the standard for years to come. Many of the ideals 
which Barnard set up are still to be realized in rural 
schools in some parts of the country ; but an awakened 
public conscience and a better understanding of the 
laws of health and hygiene have brought with them 
better lighted, heated, and ventilated buildings; more 
hygienic seats and desks; sanitary drinking fountains ; 
convenient toilets and lavatories ; shower baths ; swim- 
ming pools; school clinics; lunch rooms with whole- 
some food; gymnasiums and ample outdoor space 
for physical development, healthful games, and play. 
All of these changes are embodied in the most modern 
buildings in progressive communities. 

Safety. In the early days of school architecture, 
the factor of safety seems to have been overlooked. 
We read of school buildings dangerously placed on or 
near the highway, of cracked stoves and chimneys, 
of falling plastering, and of buildings in a dangerous 
and dilapidated condition. Schools in large towns 
and cities were often built three or four stories high, 
of non-fireproof material, with steep, narrow stairways, 
and without fire escapes. Not infrequently on the 
top floor of one of these high buildings, an auditorium 
was provided, in which as many as seven hundred 
people were at times assembled. 

The ideal of safe living has made slow progress in 
this country. There are even today, in our most en- 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 133 


lightened communities, many three-story non-fire- 
proof buildings of the old type. However, a marked 
change is taking place. Public opinion, crystallized 
in the form of building codes and safety regulations, 
is rapidly improving the quality of buildings. Old 
structures, which for financial reasons cannot be 
abandoned, are being made less hazardous by such 
safety devices as fire walls and doors, sprinkler sys- 
tems, and fire escapes. The best modern fireproof 
school buildings are now models of safety with nu- 
merous exits, broad stairways, spacious halls, and heat- 
ing plants isolated from the building in which the pupils 
are housed. 

The best twentieth century structures, as exem- 
plified in the Detroit buildings of the period from 1918 
to 1923, not only adequately serve the requirements 
of present day school organization and instruction, 
but in addition provide a physical environment in 
which children can receive instruction under healthful 
and safe conditions. 


VI. ADAPTING THE SCHOOL PLANT TO THE 
ORGANIZATION AND CURRICULUM 


School architecture of 1848 still prevalent. In the 
foregoing discussion of the evolution of the ele- 
mentary school building the fact was noted that, 
while in progressive communities school architecture 
has been gradually modified in response to the de- 
mands of education, health, and safety, in the country 
at large most of the buildings erected in 1923 are in 
their essential elements almost replicas of those con- 
structed in 1848. A casual survey of schoolhouses in 


134 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


towns and cities throughout the United States today 
leads irresistibly to the conclusion that the model of 
1848, a boxlike structure comprising a group of rooms 
uniform in size and equipment, is still a popular model 
in 1924. The obvious reason for this condition is 
that the school organization which must function in 
these buildings today is fundamentally the same as 
the organization of the original graded school in Bos- 
ton in 1848. 

It has been shown that the school authorities in 
Detroit, actuated by a feeling that the traditional 
organization was obsolete and out of step with modern 
educational ideals, in 1919 officially adopted an en- 
tirely new semi-departmentalized form of elementary 
school organization, called the platoon school. 

The logical correlative of a different kind of or- 
ganization was a new type of school building, in which 
the new organization might find adequate expression. 
To satisfy the requirements of the platoon system, 
Detroit in 1919 entered upon an extensive building 
program. 

This program included : 

(1) Remodeling existing school buildings in har- 
mony with the new organization. 

(2) Planning and erecting new buildings specifically 
designed to meet new requirements. 

Reorganization of existing buildings. As _ typical 
of the possibilities of a broader and more effective use 
of an old school building, the Newberry School may be 
considered. ‘The first unit of this building was erected 
in 1887. It was adapted to the use of the new or- 
ganization at a cost of $200. A large double 


‘fooypg AleqmaNn — “Sb “org 








136 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


room on the second floor was provided with a 
simple stage ‘and suitable seats for 80 or 90 pupils. 
This serves the purpose of an auditorium. An old 
storage room in the basement was renovated and made 
usable as a playroom or gymnasium. With these 
minor changes, a sixteen section platoon school was 
made possible, and the housing capacity of the school 






MANUAL 
TRAINING 


SEWING 
H FO t el sol LER 


P 












ALN 


a 










PLERUM 


BOYS ‘ 

BOYS GIRLS 

SPECIAL TOILET l l PLAY LOCKERST Lockers 
SHOWERS] SHOWERS 






NEW 


BASEMENT FLOOR PLAN 
‘-A-L-HOLUMES:SCHOOL: 


Fic. 46. — Basement plan of A. L. Holmes School. 


was increased by 200. Though far from ideal, the 
building serves its purpose more effectively than before, 
and the organization of the school is very efficient. 

The A. L. Holmes School was a fourteen-room build- 
ing, acquired by annexation. An addition was built 
embracing seven classrooms, auditorium, gymnasium, 
library, and kindergarten. Thus the capacity of the 
building was increased by 560. 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING $137 


On the basement level the building provides a gym- 
nasium, a playroom, locker rooms for boys and girls, 
manual training and sewing rooms, and an auxiliary 
room for a special class. On the first floor is an audi- 
torium seating 175 pupils, an art room, a music room, 
two science rooms, two literature rooms, a kinder- 
garten, two home rooms, and a special room. The 





KINDERGARTEN 









' GIRLS TOILET 










SPECIAL 
ART BOYS TOILET 
HOME 
Int | 
fe III! 
——— AvOITORIUM 
ToILet Prusic 
HOME F 
TOILET A ; 





i mt tl | 
i a uy 


= ESS SCIENCE | > 


it. ite l| == 
tf . 










OLD 








7} —__NEvy 


msi PeL 010°: PLAN 
-A-L:-HOLMES:-:SCHOOL: 


Fic. 47. — First-floor plan of A. L. Holmes School. 





second floor provides for ten home rooms, a library, and 
a special room. 

In this manner a small, inadequate building was 
transformed into a modern one, with every facility 
to meet the demands of the platoon school organization 
and to satisfy community needs as well. 

Types of new buildings erected. The first new 
building erected specifically for the platoon plan was 


138 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


the Pattengill, completed in June, 1921. This build- 
ing, with a capacity of 1960, is a two-story structure 
with a basement. 

The basement includes a gymnasium 44 by 66 feet, 
two outdoor playcourts, shower and locker rooms, a 
lunch room, rooms for manual arts and home economics, 
and rooms for literature and music. The first floor 









MECGIVD bo oO mein 
-A-L-HOLMES -SCHOOL-: 


Fic. 48. — Second-floor plan of A. L. Holmes School. 


includes an auditorium 44 by 47 feet, science rooms 
with a conservatory, art rooms, a kindergarten, and 
nine home rooms. On the second floor are an auxiliary 
auditorium, a library, and fifteen home rooms. 

During the years following the erection of the 
Pattengill School, the platoon organization was further 
refined and developed, and a new building evolved in 
harmony with the improved organization. The first 


‘Tooyos [Isuej4eg — ‘6b ‘OI 








140 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


building of this type, the Duffield School, was com- 
pleted in March, 1923. It is a ground level building 
with a total capacity of 2360. It is planned to house 
two twenty-four section platoon schools with addi- 
tional space for special classes. 

The Duffield building embodies certain features 
which make for efficiency in administration. All 


JANITOR 


TU 


SEWING 


GYMNASIUM 


MANUAL 


. DOMESTIC 
TRAINING 


SCIENCE 


<8 TOILET FAN ROOM TOILET 





BUR) ES Mies Nel eee i eee 
Fic. 50. — Basement plan of Pattengill School. 





special activities are grouped on the first floor. The 
platoon organization requires a change of classes be- 
tween special rooms at the end of each half hour. 

All the home rooms in the Duffield School are located 
on the second floor. Only twice during the day, at 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 141 


ten o’clock in the morning and at two o’clock in the 
afternoon, is there an exchange of traffic between home 
and special rooms. Grouping all of the pupils in home 
rooms on the second floor leaves the pupils undis- 
turbed by the half-hour changes which take place on 
the first floor. 3 

The outstanding features of the Duffield building 
are two gymnasiums with shower rooms adjoining, 


ART SCIENCE 


SCIENCE § SCIENCE § SCIENCE 


et: Tie 


HOME ART 


AUDITORIUM 


HOME 
KINDERGARTEN I 





Lf es a Bee a0 Do. PE AN 


Fic. 51. — First-floor plan of Pattengill School. 


two auditoriums, one seating 175 people and the other 
250, a large library with an alcove for the smaller 
children, four science rooms with two conservatories, 
a double kindergarten suite, and a lunch room. The 
third floor is given over to facilities for an open air school. 


142 | THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


The Duffield plan can be used only in localities where 
the available space is large, and where the contributing 
population will make necessary a school housing 2,000 
pupils or more. It may be erected in sections some- 
what as follows. The first section comprises twelve 
classrooms and kindergarten; the first and second 
sections, eighteen classrooms and kindergarten; the 


AYVDITORIUM 


iH Wy 
wn Itt 


UL 
Hl 
Mi 
ii 


LIBRARY 





SECON Do FL 026° eee 





Fic. 52. — Second-floor plan of Pattengill School. 


first three sections, twenty classrooms, kindergarten, 
library, auditorium, gymnasium, and teachers’ rest 
room; the first four sections, twenty-three classrooms, 
kindergarten, sewing room, shop, art studio, two 
gymnasiums, two auditoriums, library, and administra- 
tive quarters. 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 143 


A third phase in the development of an elementary 
school plan adapted to the requirements of the platoon 
organization is represented by the Brady type of 
building. While the Pattengill School exemplifies 
the closed court plan and the Duffield School the E 
type, the Brady School tends toward the H plan. It 





Fic. 53. — Duffield School. 


is preferred to the Duffield type because each twenty- 
four section unit is a complete school building archi- 
tecturally and educationally. It can also be more 
readily oriented to different sites and lends itself to 
the requirements of narrower and smaller plats of 
ground. The capacity and facilities of a complete 
school of the H type are practically the same as those 
of the Duffield School. 









forked! | 
Fare. 
loveceeers) 








i = 









OYMNASIUM 


oOrers 














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= ga 







































a 


Parmcie 
OFF ICL, 
p i 
ja Es 
— Sa os 


CBUERTELREE 





d 
q 


+] 








MUS/C om 


q 





Fic. 54. — First-floor plan of Duffield School. 















a) Gr 
 ! 


eimai 
1 oat 


















| 


ae El 
ma a 





UT 












al aul 


C1 
| eee) 


Fic. 55. — Second-floor plan of Duffield School. 





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Wel 
Vig 


5 a 
Ecce 
Bra es 
Hts Ye | 








Cru elms 


“UOT}ONIysUOD yun ZuryeIysNTTI ‘fooysg Aperg oy} Jo uRT{ — ‘9S “OI 
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wk guage eine Tees tere Seana ae NE 


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4Suld BHL OL NOILNOd SIHL 4O NOLLIQQY SHEL 


LINN 4Sul4d BHL SIN3SSAYdSN NOUHOd SIHL 





EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 147 


The Brady type of building may be constructed in 
from one to three units or sections, according to the 
needs of the particular neighborhood. The first unit, 
indicated by the crosshatching in the accompanying 
diagram (Figure 56), consists of twelve classrooms, a 
kindergarten, a small administrative office, and a large 
room on the second floor directly above the kinder- 
garten, which may be used in the first unit as an audi- 
torium. In the complete school of three units this 
room becomes a combination cooking and sewing 
room. The first unit of this building will accom- 
modate a twelve section platoon school organization, 
a kindergarten, and one non-platoon room with a 
total capacity of 640. The Courville School (Figure 
57) is representative of the first unit of an H type 
building. 

The addition of the second unit results in a building 
with gymnasium, kindergarten, sixteen classrooms, 
auditorium, speech correction room, small administra- 
tive office unit, library, clinic, and teachers’ work room. 
The combined first and second units will provide for 
a twenty section platoon organization, giving a total 
capacity, including kindergarten and speech correction 
rooms, of 940. The completion of the third unit re- 
sults in a twenty-four section school with a full com- 
plement of special rooms. The maximum capacity 
of the Brady type of school is 1,360 children distributed 
as follows: twenty-four section organization, 960; 
kindergarten, 120; seven special rooms, 280. The 
speech correction room does not add to capacity. 

The twenty-four section unit includes the following 
accommodations : 


"SUOTJOIAS ATOM SO}JEPOUIUODOB 
qIun sly “JOOYOs Uor}oas INOJ-AyUOMY B JO YUN 4sIY oY, “ooYyDg oTTAMog sy, — “LS “oy 





EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 149 


FIRST FLOOR 


2, PAUCILOrni¢G te ee ee a, Xing’ 
t Gymnasium . . eee, ao 400 x 60 
t Boys’ locker and Brower ee hale oe ae 
1 Girls’ locker and shower rooms... .. . 12’ X36’ 
r ‘Corrective gyminecminese Oe or aoe 48 be a2 23" xX ax’ 
Se peCiil LOOWISSL ete oer ae ee a’ SM 30" 
© Mandal trainwie rooms, .2eo.e, +o. 4 2. 22" X 32" 
rt Art room 2 ee Gh" et ee ees es wae Con 
Ta NLGSiCheGOIn Wie Ae ee. ane Th ees) kt ce 22" % 30° 
2 Literature rooms . . Wit Me Rey! cee ya 30° 
2 Science rooms and lobe RP a es er os RO! 
pe Beate’ UR ee cal ee aS we ary, 
1 Kindergarten . . Ak fo) AR ae eee 
1 Kindergarten toilet nd dons FOCI ay ee ete ear 2” xX 26° 
Mr iru Ramen. w | Se Ee AL crew ety td’ XC 26! 
t Administration suite . ... . ... «'. » . 23’ X30’ 
t 6Physicaldirector’s ofice so n° ewe. we ta K 20’ 

PR DOve Tiailclcn tide aie, See nee. Es bo" and 
ete or ae weak. ie’ Cita" 

Dee Crtccle cee eeeee at 17. te, Pee ae ot ee. 3 eh ES X28" and 
Same as i aay 
eleratiisetOOn! Mier fo he cs! IO 

SECOND FLOOR 

Poe nite ROGIIS © fe a BEES by aes © ues ees en | 28) X30" 
Pe pew, windowsrOOl) Goal gs) cee foe we MS 22" XO RO" 
Peopeeeh conection. To0m . ees. = x ae 6022. X30" 
1 Cooking and sewing room .... .. . . 28! X32’ 
Rape CoGheremctny: FOOM Pe als cs uf, oo lees a. 123" X38" 
Re ToarAecesrOOIl in ae eh) 2 ee Ass ue) 6.23) ar’ 
Pe Ee ae, alae eins, ce gd 14’ KX 20° 
PRC OTrQIMGnE RES 9. 8 og Wy 1s. 25" K 40, 

eee tem” 2 ae ets.) 68" XK ae" and 
ee Oe meee as ow 93" X50" 

Prineioeige to eee, eee BS 8b s, %  18! X28 and 
Se Ln eee, es 2X 12" 
See Women teachers xestiroom. . 2 1 4 «0. « 314".% 22" 
See Paes TOO ee ae sea ee Ske, 6!) 9. X12" 


All the important units in buildings erected for the 
platoon organization have been standardized. 

Standard units of platoon school building. The 
platoon organization is constantly being refined and 
modified in the light of research and changing condi- 
tions, and the building, in harmony with these modifica- 








‘jooyos Apeig jo ued 100pg-ys11yJ — “gS ‘OT 











Se 











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— | 1 
: paced een a 


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lat 














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mtd 
ee 














152 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


tions, is being changed to meet new demands. How- 
ever, the principal instructional and auxiliary units in 
the building are, within limits, becoming standardized. 
The Board of Education has officially decreed that 
classrooms shall be constructed to seat a maximum of 
forty pupils. This rule is being embodied in all school 
construction. 

The essential units in the Duffield School building, 
which exemplifies the most advanced ideas in the 
planning of buildings in Detroit, are 


I. Instructional units: 
(a) Home rooms. 
(b) Gymnasiums, showers, and locker rooms. 
(c) Playrooms or courts. 
(d) Auditoriums. 
(e) Libraries. 
(f) Kindergarten rooms. 
(g) Science rooms and conservatories. 
(h) Literature, music, and art rooms. 
(cz) Manual and industrial arts and home economic rooms. 
(j) Special rooms (open-window, for defectives, etc.). 


II. Auxiliary units: 
(a) Administration rooms. 
(b) Clinics. 
(c) Lunch rooms. 
(d) Teachers’ rooms. 
(e) Corridors with lockers. 


Instructional units. — (a) Home rooms. Home rooms 
are 22 by 30 feet in area, provided with built-in cup- 
boards, storage space for supplies, and a wardrobe 
for teachers. A strip of corkboard for display purposes 
is placed above all blackboards. The seating capacity 
is forty pupils. 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 153 


(b) Gymnasiums. The Duffield plan includes two 
gymnasiums 40 by 60 feet with locker and shower 
accommodations 19 by 29 feet for boys and girls sepa- 
rately. This unit also includes a physical director’s 
office and examination room. The locker units have 
their own toilet facilities. Each gymnasium has a 
capacity of eighty pupils. 

(c) Playrooms. The entire area above the gym- 
nasiums, in the Duffield School plan, is devoted to open 
window play space. It 
is reached by stairways 
ascending from the health 
units below. The play- 
room capacity equals that 
of the two gymnasiums 
combined. 

(d) Auditoriums. On 
the first floor are two 
auditoriums, the smaller 
one 34 by 45 feet and the larger one 34 by 54. The 
stage in the smaller auditorium is 12 feet deep, while 
that in the large auditorium is 14 feet. Both stages 
are equipped with foot and border lights. The large 
auditorium has a small gallery for spectators with 
a picture booth in the rear. This booth may be 
utilized for projection in either auditorium. The ca- 
pacity of the smaller auditorium is 200 and that of the 
larger one 300. Both are well adapted to the require- 
ments of platoon school work and the larger one is 
suitable for community purposes. 

(e) Libraries. The library suite comprises a stand- 
ard size library, 22 by 44 feet, with bay window, and a 





Fic. 60. — Plan of home room. 





OYMNAS!IUM 






GIRLs 







Fic. 61. — Plan of gymnasiums. 





BONS GYMNASIUM 





Fic. 62. — Plan of playrooms. 


uN 


{ 


My 






Fic. 63. — Plan of auditoriums. 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 1 57 


smaller library 22 by 28 for younger children. These 
rooms are provided with approved built-in library 
shelves and magazine racks, with ample corkboard 
areas for display purposes. A fireplace and suitable 
library furniture add to the general effectiveness of 
these units. 

(f) Kindergarten suite. The kindergarten facilities 
provided in the Duffield plan consist of a suite of rooms, 
which includes a large kindergarten room, 22 by 30 feet, 





: HCHILORENS LIB. 


Fic. 64. — Plan of libraries. 


with bay window, fireplace, and ample built-in cup- 
boards for storage ; a small kindergarten room 22 by 30 
feet; and between the two kindergarten rooms a room 
for wraps and a toilet room reserved for the use of 
kindergarten children exclusively. The capacity of 
this suite is 120 pupils. 

(g) Sctence rooms with conservatories. The large Duf- 
field building includes two science room suites — one on 
each wing of the building, since it is desirable that the 
conservatories have a southern exposure. The two types 
of science suites now in use are indicated in the accom- 


|| KINDERGARTEN 





Fic. 65. — Plan of kindergarten suite. 


S12 8G eee 


REDE E Bisiaie 





“ i 
Fic. 66.— Planof science rooms, Fic. 67.— Plan of science rooms, show- 
showing conservatory. ing conservatory. 


160 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


panying floor plans, Figures 66 and 67. In the 
first instance the conservatory is entered by doors 
leading to each of the science rooms. In the other 


GyTHERATDRE. 


Be ed 2 OE 3 

KTERATURE 
oP ad a 
IE Re as EE EE 


Li See 








Fic. 68. — Plan of literature, music, and art rooms. 


case the conservatory is reached directly from one 
science room, which has a door leading into the second 
science room. Each of these rooms has a capacity of 
forty pupils. 


Fic. 69. — Plan of manual training room. 


(h) Literature, music, and art rooms. Rooms used 
for literature, music, and art are of the standard home 
room size, 22 by 30 feet, and have either the regular 
built-in storage cabinets and closets, or, in the case of 


EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 161 


the art room, special cabinets and a lavatory. 


Each 


room has a capacity of forty pupils. 
(4) Manual and industrial arts and home economics. 
Provision for these activities includes a manual training 


room 22 by 30 feet with tool 
and lumber space in addition 
and built-in cabinets of a spe- 
cial type. A room of similar 
size is set aside for domestic 
science with space for a pantry 


and a small dining room. The | 


rooms for sewing are of the 
standard size, 22 by 30 feet, 


with built-in equipment for this - 
type of work. The capacity of | 


a manual training or domestic 
science room is’ twenty-four 
and of a sewing room forty. 


(7) Special rooms. 





Fic. 70.— Plan of 
room, 


special 


In all new buildings provision is 


= ; j made for several special 












apa awe 
v “| WAIT. RM. pb 
en 
| |PRiNciP | 
OFFICE. 
gd 





rooms for activities not 
a part of the regular 
platoon organization. In 
this group may be in- 
cluded open window 
rooms, rooms for defec- 


f tive children, ungraded 


and opportunity rooms, 
Aseewellerasw roomsastor 


FIG.71. ae ofadministration rooms. Americanization and for- 


eign classes. 


These rooms are all of standard size, 22 by 


30 feet, and have the usual equipment and facilities. 


162 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Auxiliary units. — (a) Administration rooms. Space 
equal to the area of one standard classroom is allowed 
for general administration. This is. di- 
vided into a large office for the princi- 
pal, with ample space for a waiting room 
and a room for the clerk. Wardrobe and 
toilet facilities are also included. 

(b) Clinics. Each school includes some 
space for the physician and nurse. In 
the Duffield plan an area of about 12 by 
: 22 feet is thus reserved. The outer 
Fic. 72.— Plan part, opening into the corridor, is used 

of clinic. as a waiting room, and the inner quarters 
for examinations and treatments. 

(c) Lunch rooms. All new platoon school buildings 
include space for a lunch 
room. In the Duffield 
School plan there is an 
area 22 by 35 feet for 
this purpose. About one- 
fourth of this space is 
used for the pantry and 
kitchen, and the remain- 
der for tables and chairs. 
The kitchen is provided 
with a special range and 
a refrigerator with ap- 
paratus for making ice. 
Food is passed through 
windows from the kitchen —F'G. 73. — Plan of lunch room. 
to a serving table outside. A rail serves to direct 
the course of pupils, as they pass the serving table 








EVOLUTION OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING 163 


to secure their food. This lunch room is designed to 
serve a five-cent plate lunch and does not offer facili- 
ties or space for more elaborate meals. 

(d) Teachers’ rest rooms. All teachers in platoon 
schools have two half-hour rest periods daily, and special 





Fic. 74. — Plan of teachers’ rest room. 


rooms for their comfort and convenience are provided. 
In the Duffield School a well-lighted room, prominently 
located in the front of the building, is set aside for 
teachers. 

(e) Corridors with individual lockers. The require- 
ments of the platoon school make corridor lockers 
desirable. They are easily accessible at all hours of the 
day, and occupy space that is otherwise of little value. 
The new buildings include space in a steel locker for 
the use of each child in the building, up to its standard 
capacity. 





Fic. 75. — Corridor lockers, each locker used by two pupils. 


Cae ba Wied aE SS VANS 
BDOUGATIONAD RESULTS 


I. INTRODUCTION 


Is the platoon school proving its worth? Progress 
in the field of education, as in every phase of social life, 
comes through change and readjustment. Old and 
well-established types of organization and modes of 
procedure must in the course of time yield to those 
which are in accord with changed conditions, but inno- 
vations in education must invariably prove their worth 
before they finally receive the hall-mark of general ap- 
proval. 

The platoon school is no exception to this rule. If 
this new organization is to supplant the traditional 
grammar school plan, it must first demonstrate that its 
educational product is superior to that of the time- 
honored school which it replaces. 

All students of education who are attuned to the 
spirit of the times will concede that the platoon school 
with its gymnasiums, playrooms, auditoriums, nature 
study rooms, libraries, and other modern features 
offers to a child many worthwhile experiences. Never- 
theless, in the minds of some there is a feeling that the 
very presence of so many attractive activities in the 
curriculum may result in the neglect of those formal 
aspects of instruction which long have been rated as 

165 


166 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


fundamental in all education. Parents as well as 
educators are inclined to ask: 


(1) Is the platoon school producing satisfactory results in the 
three R’s? 

(2) Does the increased interest which the child displays in the 
newer subjects result in diminished interest and effort in the funda- 
mentals, or does the emotional stimulus which he receives in the 
gymnasium, auditorium, and library carry over and result in 
greater enthusiasm and interest in all of his work? 

(3) Are pupils progressing through school in a satisfactory man- 
ner ? 

(4) Is the number of failures in the platoon school less or greater 
than in the non-platoon school ? 

(5) Is there more or less retardation than under the old system? 


These are legitimate inquiries and must be answered 
as far as possible in terms of objective data. 

Data on the platoon school. Fortunately, scientifi- 
cally prepared information is available bearing upon 
all of these questions. At every stage of their develop- 
ment the Detroit platoon schools have been carefully 
studied and checked. The Department of Educational 
Research has measured the results in the tool subjects 
and compared them with those achieved in non- 
platoon schools. Data are available, derived from sci- 
entific studies of this kind continued over a period of 
nearly five years, and it is now possible to speak with 
some confidence concerning the success of the platoon 
schools in training children in the fundamental skills. 


II. TECHNIQUE USED IN MEASURING RESULTS 


Use of standard tests. Platoon schools, in common 
with the other Detroit elementary schools, give stand- 
ard tests in spelling, writing, arithmetic, and geography 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 1607 


twice each semester as-a routine part of regular school 
work. ‘The first trial at the beginning of a semester re- 
veals the relation of the children’s abilities to the stand- 
ards for their grades. On this information the work 
for the semester can be intelligently planned. The 
second test at the close of the semester shows the de- 
gree to which the work done has been effective. The 
tests are given by the teachers of the various schools. 
Copies of the individual scores and class tabulations 
are then sent to the central office of the department, 
and from these duplicate records tabulations are made 
of city-wide median scores and of special comparisons. 
The data submitted below are based upon a special study 
of the relation between scores made by the platoon 
schools and those made by. the non-platoon schools of 
the city. 

Method of tabulation. In Detroit a simple method 
of tabulation has been adopted which is uniform for all 
tests and which yields a point score determined by the 
number of children who reach or approach the stand- 
ard. Thus, a class, every child of which is of standard 
ability, will have a score of 1000 points. A score of 
800 points indicates that 80% of the desired develop- 
ment has been achieved. The score of a class in arith- 
metic, for instance, is not a statement of the median 
rate and accuracy of work of the class, but a statement 
which shows how closely the class approximates stand- 
ard ability. That is, the method first sets up standards 
as goals for each grade and subject, then measures the 
teachers’ work by determining how nearly she succeeds 
in developing standard ability in each boy or girl. 
Whatever the grade or test, perfect success is indicated 


168 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


by a score of 1000 points. It is thus easily possible to 
compare achievements in different subjects. 


III. AMOUNT OF TIME DEVOTED TO FUNDAMENTALS 
IN PLATOON SCHOOLS 


A comparison. Although the platoon school pro- 
vides time for a number of activities not found in non- 
platoon schools, it actually devotes more time to the 


NUMBER OF MINUTES PER WEEK DEVOTED TO FUNDAMENTAL SUBJECTS 


IN PLATOON AND NON-PLATOON SCHOOLS 
minutes 





SS 


_ 1) SS Se ae eee Pe 


Y 
ZY 
y 
Yj 
Y 
j 
Yj 
Y 
Z 
Y 
Z 
Z 

5 


oo ee ee eS 


Gi Platoon ZNon-platoon 





Fic. 76. 


fundamentals than the traditional school. This is made 
possible by the longer school day. 

In the primary grades of platoon schools the fun- 
damentals are taught 1100 minutes a week as against 
900 minutes in Grades I-III and 980 minutes in Grade 
[V of the non-platoon schools. In the grammar grades 
the total time is the same in both types of schools, except 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 169 


in the fifth grade, in which the non-platoon allotment 
exceeds by 30 minutes the time allowed in the same 
grade in platoon schools. These data clearly demon- 
strate that the child of the platoon school is receiving 
more hours of instruction in the essentials than he would 
receive in the traditional school. 


IV. COMPARATIVE RESULTS IN PLATOON AND NOoN- 
PLATOON SCHOOLS 


For the purposes of this comparative study two 
groups of platoon schools have been selected. One 


Seore 
1000 


4 year platoons 





—-—3 year platoons 





FIG. 77. 


group of six schools has been organized on the platoon 
plan for over four years. The second group of nine 
schools has been organized on the new plan for more 
than three years. A comparison of the results pro- 
duced over a period of several years in these fifteen 
platoon schools with the results attained during the 


170 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


same time in the city at large makes it possible to 
note: 

(1) The immediate effect of reorganization upon 
results in the fundamental subjects. 

(2) The results in the fundamentals after the schools 
have been organized on the platoon plan for several 
years. 

Comparison of median scores, June, 1922. In this 
study the results in the two groups of platoon schools 


Score 


1000 


900 


500 FINAL SCORES - PENMANSHIP 


June 1922 


300 City 


4 year platoons 


———3 year platoons 





are presented separately and compared with the city as 
a whole for the semester ending in June, 1922. 
Reading. In Figure 77, the figures along the base 
line represent the grades from 4B to 8A and the figures 
along the perpendicular line show the point scores. 
The solid line stands for the median for the city in 
reading, the dotted line for the median for the four- 
year group, and the broken line for the median for 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS ryt 


the three-year group. From these results the conclu- 
sion may be drawn that with all the factors operating 
the two groups of platoon schools are securing approxi- 
mately the same results in reading as the city at large. 

Penmanship. In penmanship the median scores for 
both groups of platoon schools are somewhat above the 
city median. The four-year group excels the three- 
year group in grades below the seventh, while in the 


Scere 
1000 


900 
800 
700 
600 >» 
500 Final scores - Arithmetic 


400 June 1922 


300 City 


200 4 year platoons 


——— 3 year platoons 





FIG. 79. 


seventh and eighth grades it falls slightly below the 
three-year curve. (Figure 78.) 

Arithmetic. The results in arithmetic are not con- 
sistent. In the main, the curve for the four-year group 
runs above the city median while that for the three-year 
group falls somewhat below. The cause of this devia- 
tion from the city median is not known. (Figure 79.) 

Spelling. The close correspondence of all of the 
curves in spelling seems to point to practically equal 
results in all three groups. (Figure 80.) 


172 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Geography. Comparative results in the geography 
of location for the semester ending in June, 1922, in- 
dicate that the curves closely approximate each other. 
In the tests on states and cities the four-year group show 
some superiority. (Figure 81.) 

Although the gross results for one semester as pic- 
tured in these five graphs do not indicate a marked 
Score 

1000 

900 

800 


700 


500 Final scores - Spetiing 
400 June 1922 


300 — City 


4 year platoons 


——-— 3 year platoons 





superiority of one type of school over the other, never- 
theless, the outcome on the whole is favorable to the 
platoon schools in that the results in the two groups of 
schools of this type are either equal to or better than 
the city median. 

Comparison of median scores: four-year and three- 
year groups with city, January, 1920—June, 1923. While 
the comparative results for one semester are suggestive 
and show the general trend in the two groups of schools 
as compared with the city as a whole, a study covering 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 173 


a period of several years is a much better index of the 
results produced by the two types of school organization. 

Data submitted in this connection are especially 
significant because they represent a clearly defined 
tendency in platoon schools. Past experience has 
shown that for several semesters following the opening 
of a new building or the establishment of a new organi- 
zation there has been a tendency toward lower scores, 


Score 


1000 <soE 


500 Final scores - Geography 
June 1922 


300 City 


4 year platoons 


—-——3 year platoons 





and marked variations from grade to grade have been 
noticeable. While some schools produce as good re- 
sults immediately after reorganization as they produced 
before, other schools during the period of readjustment 
show a loss in efficiency. However, as soon as the new 
organization begins to function smoothly and _ pupils 
and teachers become accustomed to the new order, 
results begin to improve, and after a reasonable period 
the point scores in the tool subjects equal or exceed 


174 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


those attained under the non-platoon organization. 
This is the outcome that might reasonably be expected. 

The graphs immediately following represent a com- 
parative study of the scores in the three-year and four- 
year groups and in the city at large for a period of eight 
semesters. The results of this study are arrayed in a 
series of bar graphs. The method by which these 


GRADE COMPARISONS ABOVE AND BELOW CITY MEDIANS 


Geography 


June 1920 June 1922 City 
median 
'‘ 


16 above 


100 75 50 25 6 25 50 75 100 100 75 50 25 0 25 50 75 100 


50% above P 50% below 89% above ; 11% below 


fae ’ 
' 
' 





BiG. 82: 


graphs are derived from the supporting data may be 
readily understood by reference to Figure 82. 

The surface of frequency on the left in Figure 82 rep- 
resents the distribution of results in geography in June, 
1920. Each cross stands for a grade median derived from 
a group of platoon school classes in geography. The 
median for each grade is determined and compared 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 175 


with the city median in geography for the same grade. 
The platoon school grade medians are then distributed 
above and below the median for the city. In Figure 82 
the dotted perpendicular line represents the city median 
and the crosses which stand for the platoon school grade 
medians are distributed above and below this city 
median line. In the surface of frequency on the left 


Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city medians 


Reading 


Jan. 1922 


June 1922 


Jan. 1923 


June 1923 


All years 





Fic. 83. 


there are twenty-eight grade medians involved. Of 
these fourteen, or 50%, are above the city median and 
fourteen, or 50%, are below. This is graphically shown 
in the bar-graph below the surface of frequency. In 
this and all succeeding bar-graphs the black section of 
the bar shows the per cent of platoon school grade 
medians above the city median. The surface of fre- 


176 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


quency on the right shows the distribution of platoon 
school geography grade medians in June, 1923. In 
this case eighteen grade medians are involved and six- 
teen or 89% are above the city median and two or 11% 
are below as indicated in the bar-graph. 

Reading. ‘Tests in reading were not used regularly in 
Detroit before September, 1921. Therefore, the data 







Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city medians 


Penmanship 


PVEVRUC (BON T 
40 . 


J 
N 
co 
oa 
—] 
ao 
J 
~ 

J 

i] 


Jan. 1920 




















June 1920 


Jan. 1921 


June 1921 


Jan. 1922 


June 1922 


Jan, 1923 


June 1923 


All years 


Above Below 
FiG. 84. 


shown in Figure 83 include only four semesters. For 
the semester ending January, 1922, only 45% of the 
comparisons were favorable to the platoon schools. 
In June, 1922, and in January, 1923, 50% of the com- 
parisons were above the city median, but in June, 
1923, due to the influence of some factor which has 
not been ascertained the percentage of favorable com- 
parisons fell to 31%. 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 177 


Penmanship. ‘or every semester from January, 
1920, to June, 1923, the number of comparisons in 
penmanship above the city median has equaled or 
exceeded 60%. In June, 1921, January, 1922, and 
June, 1923, over 90% of the platoon school medians in 
penmanship exceeded the city median. (Figure 84.) 







Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city medians 


Arithmetic 







PERCENT 






0 20 40 60 80 100 


jo, 920 | 
' 

june 190 
$ 
‘ 
iy 






Juge 1921 





Jan, 1922 












: 
H 
‘ 


All years 


Above : Below 


Fia. 85. 


Arithmetic. With the exception of one semester, 
ending in June, 1921, the comparisons in arithmetic 
have equaled or exceeded the city median. In June, 
1921, for some reason not apparent, the results in this 
group of schools fell off sharply. This is clearly in- 
dicated in Figure 85. Generally speaking the platoon 
schools in this group have, over a period of four years, 
attained a higher point score than the city at large. 


178 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Geography. With the exception of the semester 
ending January, 1921, the fifteen platoon schools at all 
times have shown results in geography equal to or 
better than the city. In four of the five semesters 
since January, 1921, the platoon group has displayed 
marked superiority in this subject. (Figure 86.) 

Spelling. The percentage of favorable comparisons 
in spelling has equaled or exceeded the city at 


Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city medians 


Geography 


PUELR Cees Nes. 


- 1920 
1920 
- 1921 
1921 
« 1922 
1922 
« 1923 


June 1923 


All years 





Fic. 86. 


large in every semester from January, 1920, to June, 
1923. (Figure 87.) | 
Percentage of grade comparisons above and below 
city median, by subjects, January, 1920- June, 1923. 
The results represented in Figure 88 are obtained by 
computing the grade medians in each subject for each 
semester and comparing these medians with the city 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 179 


medians in the same subjects for the same semesters. 
The bar-graph indicates the percentage of favorable 
comparisons in each subject over a period of eight 
semesters.! These consolidated results show that in 
reading the percentage of grade comparisons is slightly 
less than 50%; in arithmetic the number of favorable 
comparisons is 54% ; in spelling 56% ; in geography 66% ; 
and in penmanship 79%. 


Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city medians 


@Spelling 


PERCENT 


Jan. 1920 


June 1920 


Jan. 1921 


June 1921 


Jan. 1922 


June 1922 


Jan, 1923 


June 1923 


All years 





Fic. 87. 


Comparison of grade medians above and below 
city median, all tests—by semesters, January, 
1920 — June, 1923. Figure 89 graphically represents 
results obtained by: (1) computing grade medians in 
all subjects in platoon schools for a given semester ; 
(2) finding the median of these grade medians; and 


1 Data in reading cover only four semesters. 


180 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


(3) comparing the median of the grade medians with 
the city median for all subjects at the end of the same 
semester. 

In the consolidated data derived from all tests the 
fifteen platoon schools show a marked superiority over 
the city in every semester from January, 1920, to June, 


1923. 


Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city medians 


Jan. 1920 - June 1923 


Reading 


Arithmetic 


Spelling 


Geography 


Penmanship 


All subjects 





Fic: 38: 


The results represented in Figure 89 may be more 
easily analyzed if arrayed as in Figure 90. In this 
graph the results obtained by the four-year and three- 
year groups of platoon schools in all tests for six se- 
mesters are shown separately. From this study it is 
evident that the four-year group have produced superior 
results in every semester. On the other hand, the 
three-year group during the three semesters imme- 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 181 


diately following their organization show less than 50% 
of favorable comparisons. In the fourth semester the 
percentage of comparisons above the city median almost 
reached the 50% line, and in the fifth, sixth, and eighth 
semesters the percentage of favorable results in this 
group was well above 50%, although in the semester 
ending in January, 1923, there was for some reason a 


Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city medians 


All tests 


PERCENT 


Jan. 1920 


June 1920 


Jan. 1921 


June 1921 


Jan, 1922 


June 1922 


Jan, 1923 


June 1923 


All years 





FiG. 89. 


decided falling off in the number of favorable com- 
parisons. 

This same general tendency stands out even more 
clearly in Figure 91, in which the percentage of grade 
comparisons above and below the city median in all 
tests is shown for the semester ending June, 1922. In 
this graph the results for a group of one- and two-year 


182 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


platoon schools are compared with those attained by 
the three-year and four-year groups. Figure 91 in- 
dicates that the one- and two-year schools (a number of 
which at the date of this study had been organized as 
platoon schools for less than one year) show only 29% 
of favorable comparisons; the three-year group, 55% of 


Percentage of grade comparisons above and below citv medians 






All tests 


~ 
NS 
° 
z) 
> 
So 
@- 
an 
i] 
~ 
oo 
o 
~ 
-_ 
J 
So 
~~ 


4 yr. platoons 0 
Jan. 1920 
June 1920 
Jan, 1921 
June 1921 
Jan. 1922 
June 1922 
Jan. 1923 
June 1923 


3 yr. platoons 
Jan. 1920 
June 1920 
Jan 1921 
June 1921 
Jan, 1922 
June 1922 
Jan, 1923 
June 1923 









Above : Below 


FIG. 90. 


the comparisons above the city median; and the four- 
year group, 78% of the favorable comparisons. 

From these studies it seems reasonable to conclude 
that the platoon school organization, after it has passed 
through the period of readjustment, may be expected to 
give more efficient training in the fundamental skills 
than the non-platoon schools have given. 

Comparison of results in schools before and after 
organization on the platoon plan. For the purposes 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 183 


of this study two groups of schools were taken. The 
first group consists of fourteen schools which have 
been platoon schools for at least two years. This group 
includes schools which were organized during the year 
following the organization of the three-year group. 
The second group embraces ten schools all of which have 
been operated as platoon schools for three years or 


Percentage of grade comparisons above and below city medians 


All tests - June 1922 


CER CE NE 


1 & 2 ye platoons 


3 yr. platoons 


4 yr platoons 





FIG. QI. 


more. The ten schools include eight schools from the 
three-year group and two from the four-year group. 

In order to determine how reorganization has af- 
fected the results in the fundamentals in these schools, 
as many class medians as possible were obtained from 
the test records of each school during the semesters 
before reorganization. Each class median was com- 
pared individually with the city median for the same 
semester. In a like manner class medians were ob- 
tained from these same schools for the entire period 


184 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


from the date each school became a platoon school up 
to the date of this study (March, 1923). Each of these 
class medians was compared individually with the city 
median for the same semester. It will be noted that in 
the three-year group the number of class medians after 
organization is largely in excess of the number before, 
because data are available for only a short period before 


COMPARISON OF PERCENTAGE CLASSES ABOVE AND BELOW CITY MEDIANS 
BEFORE AND AFTER ADOPTING THE PLATOON SYSTEM 
14 two year schools 


No. of 
classes % 0 0 40 
825 Before 
Arithmetic 
507 After 


877 Before 
Penmanship 
638 After 


Before 


Spelling 


After 


1003. Before 
Geography 
625 After 


3840 
All subjects 
2625 





FIG. 92. 


reorganization, while complete records have been pre- 
served during the entire period since reorganization. 

For the fourteen schools organized as platoon schools 
for two years or more, the percentage of class medians 
above and below the city medians during the periods 
before and after they became platoon schools are 
represented in Figure 92. 

In arithmetic the percentage fell from 58% to 50% 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 185 


after reorganization; in penmanship it increased from 
44% before to 48% after; in spelling it increased from 
49% before to 52% after; and in geography the per- 
centage fell from 54% to 43%. The data here sub- 
mitted confirm the conclusion previously reached that 
during the early period of reorganization and readjust- 
ment the efficiency of instruction may be for a time 


COMPARISON OF PERCENTAGE Of CLASSES ABOVE AND BELOW CITY MEDIANS 
BEFORE AND APTER ADOPTING Tile PLATOON SYSTEM 
10 three year schools 


No. of 
80 100 


classes % 0 20 40 ' 60 
Arithmetic : 
‘ 


‘ 
‘ 

296 Before 

Penmanship 

995 After 
' 
‘ 
e 


342 Before 
Spelling : 
. 1166 After 
j 
Geography : 


MESO Se tte eT 


Above . Below 





FIG. 93. 


slightly reduced. On the other hand Figure 93 tells 
another story. Here are arrayed the results before and 
after reorganization in the ten schools which have been 
organized on the platoon plan for three years. This 
graph shows that the percentage of favorable com- 
parisons in arithmetic increased from 38% before to 
44% after reorganization; in penmanship from 48% 


186 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


before to 62% after; in spelling from net 7% before to 
51% after; and in geography from 42% before to 52% 
se These results confirm the seacineeae previously 
drawn that after a reasonable period allowed for re- 
adjustment, the efficiency of instruction in the platoon 
schools rapidly increases. 






ea 15 Platoons 


PERCENT OF FAILURES 
PLATOON AND NON-PLATOON 
SCHOOLS 


| 7.09 WEEE Total City 


FIG. 94. 


School failures, retardation, and acceleration. In 
evaluating the educational product of a school two 
significant factors to be considered are the percentage 
of school failures and amount of retardation and accel- 
eration. Data relating to the progress of pupils 
through the grades not only are a good index of the 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 187 


quality of instruction and the adaptability of the cur- 
riculum, but also of the functioning of the organiza- 
tion as a whole. Figure 94 indicates the percentage 
of failures in fifteen platoon schools as compared with 
the city as a whole. The data covers six semesters 
from January, 1920, to June, 1922. 


PERCENTAGE OF RETARDATION AND ACCELERATION 
14 MATCHED SCHOOLS 


oe Platoons operating 


two years or more 


yn City 





FIG. 95. 


The percentage of failures in the elementary schools 
of Detroit has steadily decreased since January, 1920. 
This decrease probably has been due to improvements 
in the quality of instruction and in the curriculum, as 
well as to administrative adjustments. The percentage 
of failures in the fifteen platoon schools during the 
entire period has been less than that in the city at large. 
In this connection, it is fair to consider that the fifteen 
platoon schools during the six semesters from January, 


188 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


1920, to June, 1922, had a smaller percentage of failures 
than the other schools in spite of the fact that the 
platoon schools were in process of reorganization and 
readjustment. 

Figure 95 shows the percentage of retardation and 
acceleration in fourteen of the fifteen platoon schools, 
and fourteen comparable non-platoon schools. 

The percentage of three-year retardation is equal in 
the two groups. The percentage retarded two years 
and one year, as well as the percentage in grade at age, 
is slightly larger in the non-platoon schools. The 
percentage of one-year and two-year acceleration is 
somewhat larger in the platoon group. From these 
data it may be concluded that as far as retardation and 
acceleration are concerned the platoon schools have a 
slight advantage. 

In interpreting the data submitted above bearing on 
results in the fundamentals as well as upon the per- 
centages of failures, retardation, and acceleration, it 
must be kept in mind that progress in school is in- 
fluenced by a variety of factors aside from the school 
organization itself. For this reason it is not possible 
to say that the results attained in platoon schools are 
better than those produced in the non-platoon schools 
entirely because of the difference in organization. 
What the results really show is that over a period of 
from three to four years the two groups of platoon 
schools have attained better results in the fundamentals 
than the city as a whole, and also have had a smaller 
percentage of failures and less retardation than the 
non-platoon schools of the city during the same period. 

In considering the above results it is pertinent to 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS 189 


inquire whether the fifteen platoon schools may not in 
the beginning have been a favored group either as re- 
spects the nationality of the children, or the quality of 
the instruction which the children have received. Ex- 
perience has shown that the nationality of the pupils 
and the quality of the teaching are two factors which 
have an important bearing on school progress. Data 


PERCENTAGE OF THREF-OR-MORE YEAR RETARDATION BY NATIONALITY GROUPS 


IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 


U.S.White 


Teutonic 
Anglo-Saxon 


Canadian 


Slavic 


Colored 





FIG. 96. 


are therefore included below for the purpose of com- 
paring the platoon schools with the city at large on the 
basis of these two factors. 

Figure 96 shows the distribution of three-year retar- 
dation in the elementary schools of Detroit among the 
various nationality groups. 

Of all three-year retardation 1.98% is among U. S. 
whites; 2.7% among the Teutonic, Anglo-Saxon, and 


190 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Canadian groups; 7.97% among the Slavic group; 
8.38% among the Latin group; and 14.02% among the 
colored group. | 
Figure 97 shows the distribution of nationalities 
among platoon and non-platoon schools. It is evident 
that the number of U. S. whites is approximately the 
same in the two groups; that the platoon schools have 


DISTRIBUTION OP NATIONALITIES IN PLATOON AND NON-PLATOON SCBOOLS 


3h 
Siete 0% ODLEZZZtzzzzzzxxzkoehlecublklkllkllttl¥00 


SR 
.1% ida 


Russian 


0% 


italiano 


0% KZ 


«7% 


aoe 08 ULE, 


3% 
6% LLL 


Eng. Scot. 9% Pees Baal 
Can. Germ. 14 WZ 


5.0s 
6.3% ZZ 


U.S.Colored 


Platoon schools establish 
two years or, more 


V777zA Non-Platoon 


Miscellaneous 





FIG. 97. 


three times as many Russians as the non-platoon 
schools; that the platoon schools have one third more 
Italians than the non-platoon schools; that the non- 
platoon schools have 4.3% more Polish than the platoon 
schools; and that the percentage of colored and other 
groups 1s about the same in the two types of schools. 
This study does not prove that the platoon schools are 


EDUCATIONAL RESULTS IQI 


favored as respects the nationalities of the children 
enrolled in them. 

A fair gauge of the quality of instruction in platoon 
and non-platoon schools may be found in the teachers’ 
ratings filed annually by elementary school principals 
in the office of the superintendent of schools. A dis- 
tribution of these ratings seems to show that as far as 


DISTRIBUTION OF TEACHER RATINGS 


Platoons operating 
two years or more 


City 


Bxcellent 





FIG. 98. 


the quality of instruction is concerned the platoon and 
non-platoon schools are almost equal (Figure 98). 

The above array of objective data strongly indicates 
that while the results in the platoon schools over a 
period of years are superior to those in the city as a 
whole, this is not the fact because the platoon schools 
enroll favored groups of children or because the pupils 


1Q2 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


in platoon schools are instructed by an exceptionally 
efficient group of teachers. It is also worthy of note 
that the results shown by these objective data are con- 
firmed by subjective data in the form of the opinions of 
principals and teachers who work in platoon schools. 


GHAR. 
COs 


I. INTRODUCTION 


The second important factor. The supreme test of 
the value and efficiency of any school organization is 
its educational product. After this requirement is sat- 
isfied there still remains the important factor of cost. 
The American people believe in education and are 
proud of the public schools. They are ready to 
make any reasonable sacrifice to the end that their 
children may secure the advantages which modern 
well-equipped schools can offer. Nevertheless, the ed- 
ucator is continually faced with the responsibility of 
keeping the schools abreast of the times without per- 
mitting the educational budget to become excessively 
high. 

The platoon school as organized in Detroit aims to 
provide for the children and the community all the 
advantages and facilities which a modern school de- 
mands and at the same time to keep the cost of school 
buildings and the cost of instruction within reasonable 
limits. 

In the data submitted in this section the platoon 
school and non-platoon school organizations are com- 
pared with respect to: 

(1) Building costs 
(2) Instructional costs 
193 


194 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


II. BurILpDING Costs 


Introduction. Preliminary to an intelligent dis- 
cussion of school building costs, it is necessary to define 
the meaning of “‘ school building ”’ in terms of twentieth 
century education. If we are satisfied with a structure 
of the Quincy Grammar School type consisting merely 
of rooms of uniform size and equipment without pro- 
vision for the newer phases of educational activity, the 
total cost will be relatively smaller and the facilities 
will be correspondingly inadequate and unsuited to 
present day requirements.! 

On the other hand if the term “ school building ”’ 
connotes a structure in which every phase of instruction 
is provided with special rooms and equipment so 
planned as to offer the most favorable environment for 
effective teaching, then the original total cost of the 
building will be greater. 

Society in an increasing degree is demanding school 
buildings which not only provide for the health, train- 
ing, and socialization of the children, but for the needs 
of the community as well. A building with an audito- 
rium, gymnasium, and play space is a necessary pre- 
requisite to the Detroit plan of platoon organization, 
but it is fair to assume that with the awakening of 
community interest in the schools and the growth of 
parent-teacher associations, the public will insist upon 
modern, completely equipped buildings even if the 
non-platoon plan is continued. 


1 The unit cost, z.e., on the square foot or cubic foot basis, would 
be approximately the same. 


COSTS 195 


Effect of an addition of auditorium, gymnasium, 
and playroom. A large part of the reorganization of the 
Detroit elementary school system has been accom- 
plished by adding auditoriums, gymnasiums, and 
playrooms to buildings already in existence. How 
such an addition affects the capacity of a twelve-room 
building is indicated in Figure gg. 








ADDITION OLD BUILDING 


SELRST = FLOOR PLAN - 


OLD BUILDING —NOT- PLATOON ————————— CAPACITY - 480 
-OLD- BUILDING: PLUS AUDITORIUM - §- GYMNASIUM - 
PLATOON - ORGANIZATION —————————-—— CAPACITY - 640 - 
‘INCREASE -IN-CAPACITY - 3312 % 


TROWBRIDGE SCHOOL 


FIG. 99. 








The Trowbridge School, an old twelve-room building, . 
provided a maximum of 480 seats on the non-platoon 
plan. A gymnasium was added on the basement level 
with an auditorium above it on the first floor level. A 
room in the basement of the old building was then 
utilized for indoor play. The installation of the platoon 
organization in this enlarged building increased the 
number of seats from 480 to 640, or 333%. 


196 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


For a comparative study of the capacities of seventy- 
seven Detroit elementary school buildings under the 
platoon and non-platoon plans see Appendix, page 254. 

Comparative cost of auditoriums, gymnasiums, 
and playrooms with equivalent space in classrooms. 
If the increase in capacity under the platoon plan arises 
from the addition of auditoriums, gymnasiums, and 





AUDITORIUM BALCONY 
NTC HOUS” 95 GHe oie 





FIG. 100. 


play space it becomes a matter of interest to know how 
the cost of such additions compares with the cost of an 
equivalent housing capacity in ordinary schoolrooms. 
The increase in capacity due to the auditorium and 
health units varies with the size of the building. This 
is apparent from Table XI. 


‘uInIIoyIpny Jooyosg Ajoq] — ‘101 ‘91g 





198 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


TABLE XI— INCREASE IN CAPACITY DUE To ADDITION OF 
AUDITORIUM AND GYMNASIUM 
12 Rooms Capacity 480 + Aud. & Gym. 


15 Rooms Capacity 600 + Aud. & Gym. 
18 Rooms Capacity 720 + Aud. & Gym. 


16 Rooms’ Capacity 640 
20 Rooms’ Capacity 800 
24 Rooms’ Capacity 960 


oi tt 


A second important factor to be considered is the 
size of auditorium to be constructed. In Detroit two 
types have been erected. The large type is exemplified 
in the floor plans of the Nichols School auditorium, 
Figure 100. This auditorium has a ceiling height of two 
stories and, including the balcony, has a seating capac- 
ity of 350. 

The small auditorium of the Doty School has a ceiling 
height of one story and a floor area of less than two 
ordinary classrooms. It has a capacity of 159 pupils 
(Figure 101). 

It is evident that it is not economical to add a 
large auditorium to a small building, because it provides 
capacity far in excess of the needs for daily auditorium 
classes. However, it does serve the purpose of a 
community meeting place. In additions to buildings 
of twelve, sixteen, or even eighteen rooms the smaller 
type of auditorium with a maximum capacity of 200 to 
250 is desirable both on the grounds of economy and 
because it is adequate for the needs of the school. 

It is difficult to make an accurate comparative study 
of the costs of school additions. Each case is a problem 
in itself owing to a variety of factors, the principal one 
being the cost of altering and enlarging the heating and 
ventilating plants 

Table XII, which shows the costs of various additions 
to elementary schools, both with and without audito- 
riums, indicates that in these particular cases the cost 


COSTS 199 


of auditoriums and health units varies only slightly 
from the cost of equivalent space in the form of class- 
rooms. 


TABLE XII — ComMpARATIVE Costs oF AUDITORIUM AND GYMNASIUM 
WITH EQUIVALENT SPACE 


DATE SCHOOL ADDITION Cost Incr. Cap. 
Aug. 1920 Carstens 8 Class Rms. $191.726 8 rooms 
Aug. 1920 Crosman Aud. Gym. & $198.251 8 rooms 

2 Class rms. 
April 1921 Estabrook Aud. & Gym. $125.817 6 rooms 
June 1921 Doty Aud. Gym. & 

4 Class rms. $134.000 Io rooms 
Aug. 1921 A. L. Holmes Aud. Gym. & 

8 Class rms. $123.000 14 rooms 
Aug. 1921 Wingert Aud. Gym. & 

7 Class rms. $140.000 13 rooms 
Sept. 1921 Maybee 8 Class rms. $109.000 8 rooms 
Dec. 1921 Stephens 8 Class rms. $116.000 8 rooms 


Comparative cost per pupil of new buildings or- 
ganized on the platoon and non-platoon plans. If the 
introduction of the platoon plan increases capacity it is 
evident that the per capita cost of the building will be 
less than under the non-platoon plan. Table XIII 
shows the comparative per capita costs of a group of 
Detroit’s new elementary school buildings. 


III. INSTRUCTIONAL CosTs 


Introduction. Before any definite conclusion can be 
reached as to the relative costs of instruction in platoon 
and non-platoon schools it will be necessary to deter- 
mine what particular type of non-platoon school is to be 
used in the comparison. If the school is of the tradi- 
tional “ single teacher’ type in which a pupil receives 
all his instruction from one teacher, it may be con- 
ceded in advance that the cost will be less than in a 
platoon school because the service rendered will be less. 


200 


THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


a a a ar ek EE EY 





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£6°1Sz orzie 
6L°g6£ 6gr1S 
98°71 BS Rzz 
oLofe z1°Lov 
COTE gg vor 

61 1gt zor1Sg 
zb-Loz 69°F Lz 
Se-ggs¢ og 1gL¢ 
u001D)q U00}D] J-U0 








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gor'z1e 
gto'zgl 
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gor'ezr 
16L‘ogL 
669‘zrr 
EvS‘oor 
z1L‘oSot 


Sulpling 


JO 4SOD [RIOT 




















org ozl ot9 ozs O71 ee nr ee eR 
ovz‘t ozI‘t 000%! Ogg ozI ag ED a oe rl | 
og6‘I org‘t ogr‘r ogt*I oz1 ong fe ae hs es IT Gel, 
ooVv't Ogz‘I ozi‘t oo00'I ozI tree te es COLT CO 
Ogz‘I ogI‘t oto‘r 0z6 ozI Fh at ee ae ee 
ogt*z ove‘ ogg‘ ogL‘t ozI ae ee? Ce Seer | 
0z6 008 0389 o9s O7I ee ee eT a 
o96‘I org‘ ogr‘t oge*t oz1 “alt oe wie SeTOUOOCS 
Ozi‘r 000% org ozl ozl ne ee OLE, 
“us 
1210], aa ae 1210 [, “UspY 200g 
‘uspy 
Ayioedey u00je[g Ayloeded u00}¥[g-uON - IOOHOS 





SONIGTING JO ALIOVdV) 


ee ee Cee ee eee ee ne ee en eer es RE a 











SISVG NOOLVIG-NON GNV NOOLVIg NO GaZINVOUO SONIGTING dO TidAg Add SLsODQ AALLVAVdNOD — TTX ATAVL 


COS Cs 201 


If, however, the cost of instruction in a platoon school 
is to be compared with similar costs in a semi-depart- 
mentalized school of the non-platoon type the situation 
then calls for careful analysis before the comparative 
costs can be determined. 

Duplication of teacher service and waste of in- 
structional space. As a result of the expansion of the 


TYPICAL WAYS OF HANDLING SPECIAL SUBJECTS IN NON«PLATOON SCHOOLS 


MANUAL TRAINING ART 


Regular ‘Special Regular Special 


| I 


tegular teacher free. Regular and special teacher 
Special teacher teaching. each teaching half a class. 


MUSIC GYMNASIUM 


Regular Regular Special Regular 


Regular teacher free. Two regular teachers each teaching 
Special teacher teaching. half a class. Special teacher 5 
teaching a full class. 


Each square represents one room, 


Space used ia Space unused 





Hich.102, 


elementary school curriculum, progressive school sys- 
tems are now employing special teachers of music, art, 
and health education who teach in schools of the non- 
platoon type. The service which they render increases 
the efficiency of the instruction and also adds matert- 
ally to the cost because they duplicate the service of 
other teachers. The manner in which this duplication 
takes place may be shown asin Figure 102. Four typi- 


202 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


cal methods of using special teachers in non-platoon 
schools are here portrayed : 


(a) Manual Training. The regular teacher is entirely free while 
the special teacher conducts the class in a special room. 

Two teachers are being employed for one group of pupils and the 
regular room remains vacant. 

(b) Art. The regular teacher retains half the class while the 
other half is instructed in a special room by a special teacher. The 
number of pupil hours of instruction is decreased by one-half and 
half of each room is vacant. 

(c) Music. The regular teacher is entirely free while the special 
teacher works in the regular room. ‘Two teachers are employed 
for the same group at the same time. 

(d) Gymnasium. Two regular teachers each teach half a class 
in a regular room and the special teacher instructs a whole class in 
the gymnasium. Three teachers are employed to teach two classes 
and space equivalent to an entire room is left vacant. 


Any type of organization that is wasteful of teacher 
service or of instructional space is inefficient. Nearly 
all non-platoon schools are to a degree inefficient in one 
or both of these respects. 

Required number of teachers in platoon and non- 
platoon schools of equivalent size. This tabulation is 
based upon the median number of teachers employed in 
Detroit in non-platoon schools of various sizes as com- 
pared with the standard allotment of teachers required 
for platoon schools of the same size. For example a 
non-platoon school of twelve classes has twelve regular 
teachers. In Detroit a median number of two special 
teachers is employed for twelve-room non-platoon 
schools making a total of fourteen teachers necessary 
for a twelve-room school. The standard number of 
teachers required for a twelve section platoon school, 
Grades I-\V, is thirteen and this permits of the entire 


COSTS 203 


range of activities including gymnasium, auditorium, 
and play as well as special work in art, music, literature, 
and science. 


TABLE XIV — REQUIRED TEACHER SERVICE 








Non-PLATOON SCHOOLS PLATOON SCHOOLS 

No. of Regular Special Total No. of Total 
Classes Teachers Teachers ie Classes Teachers 

II II 2.4 13.4 

12 12 2.0 14.0 2 13.0 

13 13 2.7 15.7 

14 14 3.0 17.0 

15 is 2.8 17.8 

16 16 2.0 18.0 16 18.0 

20 20 3.3 23.3 20 22.5 

24 24 6.1 30.12 24 29.4 


In a school of sixteen classes the platoon and non- 
platoon teacher requirements are the same, while in the 
twenty and twenty-four section schools the platoon 
school renders its more varied service with less teachers. 
This gives no consideration to the fact that in the non- 
platoon schools special teachers are freeing both special 
and regular teachers while both are being paid for the 
same service. This will appear in the following studies. 

Analysis of required teacher service in non- 
platoon and platoon schools. — Sixteen section school. 
In accordance with the official time allotment for non- 
platoon schools it is necessary to provide 25,020 min- 
utes of instruction per week. This is apportioned 
as follows: music 960 minutes; art 960; gymnasium 
2,400; manual arts 840; and regular classroom work 
19,860. A full-time teacher works 1,500 minutes a 
week. This would require the employment of .64 of 
the time of a music teacher; .64 of the time of an art 
teacher; the time of 1.6 gymnasium teachers; and the 


204. THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


time of 13.24 regular classroom teachers. What we 
actually employ is I music teacher, I art teacher, 
1.6 gymnasium teacher, .56 manual arts teacher, and 
16 regular classroom teachers. In other words to do 
the work of 16.68 teachers in a sixteen room school it is 


TABLE XV — Non-PLatoon ScHOOL — 16 SECTION — GRADES I TO 6 


MIN. PER TEACHERS TEACHERS EXTRA 
SUBJECT WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED TEACHERS 

Music ease ee 960 64 1.00 .36 
ATC Pe ieeee 960 64 1.00 36 
Gymng. eee 2400 1.60 1.60 
Man@artss oc 840 56 .56 
Reg. Cl. Room . 19860 13.24 16.00 2.76 
‘Lotal iteeaearaee 25020 16.68 20.16 3.48 


necessary to employ 20.16 teachers when the non- 
platoon organization is used. This leaves an excess of 
3.48 teachers. This excess is due largely to the fact 
that special teachers and regular teachers are being 
employed to instruct the same group of pupils at one 
time. 

TABLE XVI — PLATOON ScHOOL — 16 SECTION — GRADES I TO 6 











SUBJECT MIN. PER ‘TEACHERS TEACHERS EXTRA 
WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED TEACHERS 
Music de tom >a i 960 64 1.00 + .36 
ATCA Gee ae ec nes 1060 72 1.00 + .28 
Gymnt .. 0c. 4500 3.00 2.00 — 1.00 
Man. Arts. . . 720 48 .48 
Audit: eeias aes 2280 1.52 2.00 + .48 
Literature. . . 2400 1.60 1.50 — .I0 
SCIENCE sep icleiee Wee 2400 1.60 1.50 — .10 
Supv. Study . . 420 .28 — .28 
Home Room. . 12000 8.00 8.00 
Relic * 42 27. 2400 1.60 1.00 — .60 
— .96 


PLotal. eis tanta: 29160 19.44 18.48 


By way of comparison the sixteen section platoon 
school offers significant data. The official time allot- 


COSTS 205 


ment for platoon schools provides in a sixteen section 
school for 29,160 minutes of instruction a week dis- 
tributed as indicated in Table XVI. As each teacher 
works 1,500 minutes a week it would require 19.44 
teachers to render the required service. The number 
of teachers actually employed is 18.48, which leaves 
a shortage of the services of .96 of a teacher. This is 
explained by the fact that auditorium and gymnasium 
teachers at times instruct two classes at one time. 

From these data it is clear that while the sixteen 
room non-platoon school requires 20.16 teachers to give 
25,020 minutes of instruction, the sixteen section 
platoon school gives 29,160 minutes of instruction by 
the use of 18.48 teachers. 


TABLE XVII — PLAtoon ScHoot — 18 SECTION — GRADES I TO 6 








SUBJECT MIN. PER TEACHERS TEACHERS EXTRA 
WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED ‘TEACHERS 
Music = 1080 72 I.00 + .28 
Art = 1260 84 1.00 + .16 
Gymn.. . 4920 3.28 2.00 — 1.28 
Man. Arts. goo 60 60 
AUC eee 2550 1.70 2.00 + .30 
Literatures ene 2700 1.80 2.00 + .20 
SCIENCE. 2s) 5 2700 1.80 2.00 + .20 
Supv. Study . . 540 .36 — .36 
Home Room. . 13500 9.00 9.00 
Reliciw ae eas 2700 1.80 I.00 — 80 
Total 32850 21.90 20.60 — 1.30 














Eighteen section school. An analysis along similar 
lines of eighteen class or section schools of the two 
types reveals similar conditions. The eighteen class 
non-platoon school requires 22.52 teachers to give 
28,290 minutes of instruction, while the eighteen section 
platoon school provides 32,850 minutes of instruction 
by the use of 20.6 teachers. This discrepancy is largely 


206 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


due to the fact that the non-platoon organization em- 
ploys 18 classroom teachers to give instruction which 
actually requires but 14.9 teachers. This waste of 
teacher service is due to the employment of special 
teachers who work while regular teachers are either 
idle or carry an underload of pupils in their classrooms. 


TABLE XVIII — Non-Piatoon ScHoor — 18 SECTION 
GRADES I TO 6 





SupyEcr MIN. PER TEACHERS TEACHERS EXTRA 

J WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED TEACHERS 
Music . to8o0 72 1.00 28 
Art : 1080 72 1.00 28 
Gymn.. ; 2700 1.80 1.80 

Man. Arts. : 1080 72 72 

Reg. Cl. Room . 22350 14.90 Shite yere! 3.10 
EOtalee ueca 28290 18.86 22.52 3.66 


Twenty section school. The twenty class non- 
platoon school shows an excess of 3.64 teachers over 
the necessary requirements (Table XX). The twenty 
section platoon as compared with the non-platoon 
school of the same size makes a favorable showing inas- 
much as it gives 37,440 minutes of instruction by em- 


TABLE XIX — PLATOON SCHOOL — 20 SECTION — GRADES 1 TO 8 


Roniner MIN. PER TEACHERS ‘TEACHERS EXTRA 
J WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED TEACHERS 

Music 1200 80 1.00 + .20 

Art hae 1320 88 1.00 + .1I2 

GSyvmny. =. . : 4470 2.98 2.00 — .98 

Man Arts. so.) 2880 1.92 2.00 + .08 

Audits <i" ae7 2520 1.68 2.00 + .32 

Literature. . . 3000 2.00 2.00 

Science’. o49%. 3000 2.00 2.00 

Labrary/ i) sta 1050 .70 I.00 + .30 

Home Room. . 15000 10.00 10.00 

Reliefs 4.9 2/24; 3000 2.00 1.50 — .50 


COSTS 207 


ploying 24.5 teachers while the non-platoon school 
requires 25.28 teachers to give 32,460 minutes of in- 
struction. 


TABLE XX — Non-PLATOON SCHOOL — 20 SECTION — GRADES I TO 8 


SOBiECT MIN. PER TEACHERS TEACHERS EXTRA 
J WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED TEACHERS 
Music 1200 80 1.00 20 
Art ‘ 1200 80 I.00 20 
Gymn.. 3000 2.00 2.00 

Man. Arts. 1920 1.28 1.28 

Reg. Cl. Room . 25140 16.76 20.00 3-24 

SL Otale ga Pee 32400 21.64 25.28 3.64 








Twenty-four section school. The twenty-four class 
non-platoon school is less efficient than the other types 
in that it requires an excess of 4.16 teachers. The 
twenty-four section platoon school is a well-balanced 
organization and on the whole the most effective. The 
amount of teacher service employed approximates 
closely the amount required, and few teachers have 
an underload in their special departments. This 


-TABLE XXI— PLATOON ScHOOoL — 24 CLASSES— GRADES I TO 6 


REQUIRED TEACHER SERVICE 


MINUTES TEACHERS TEACHERS 
SUBJECT PER WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED 
INUISICeriie ag hat fic A. 99. = 1440 .96 I 
AT tee eet Sar eel chs 1680 1.12 I 
REGU tee phn ge) 6000 4. 3 
ManiualeAtismmee co << -. 1440 .96 I 
AMCICOFIt ee ath. 3300 2.24 2 
‘Literaturemmaat aco.) 6 Se 3600 2.40 2.5 
DCICHCO MMM Gres Gna 3600 2.40 2.5 
LADTATV A eee eee 1200 80 I 
Homer OOM ee. cts. 18000 12. 12 
Reliciget suse se 3600 2.4 2.4 
otal smemyremein geist. ss is 43920 29.28 28.4 


Platoon classes receive 1800 minutes of instruction a week 


208 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


TABLE XXII — Non-PLAToon ScHOOL — 24 CLASSES — GRADES I TO 6 
REQUIRED TEACHER SERVICE 


S MINUTES TEACHERS TEACHERS EXCESS 
VEJECT PER WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED TEACHERS 
Music 1440 96 I O4 
Aro ger: 1440 96 I 4 
Health . 3600 2.40 2.40 

ManwArts® oe. 1680 1.12 1.12 

Regular Classes . 29880 19.92 24 4.08 
‘Lotal) eae 38040 25.36 29.52 4.16 





Non-platoon classes 1500 minutes a week (Grades I-IV). 
Non-platoon classes 1650 minutes a week (Grades V-VI). 


enables each teacher to devote herself largely to her 
own special field without being obliged to assist in some 
other department. This is in accord with the spirit and 
purposes of the platoon organization. 


TABLE XXIII—Non-PLAToon SCHOOL — 12 SECTION — GRADES I TO 3 





racy MINUTES PER ‘TEACHERS TEACHERS EXTRA 

JE WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED TEACHERS 

Pea erg Bo Ce 720 of “50 .02 
AAs ree! 720 4 50 .02 

GYDINs oc cets 1800 1.20 1.20 

Man. Arts. ; 

Reg. Cl. Room . 14760 : 9.84 12.00 2.16 

Total 18000 12.00 14.20 + 2.20 


TABLE XXIV — PLatToon SCHOOL — 12 SECTION — GRADES I TO 3 


Seieritn MINUTES PER TEACHERS TEACHERS EXTRA 
J WEEK REQUIRED EMPLOYED TEACHERS 
Music 720 .48 50 .02 
Art 720 .48 50 + .02 
Gymn 3600 2.40 2.00 AC 
Man. Arts 

Audit. ae 1800 1.20 1.00 — .20 
Literature. . . 1800 1.20 1.00 — .20 
SGIONCE TREN. Ge”. 1800 1.20 1.00 — .20 
Supv. Study . . 360 .24 — .24 
Home Room. . 10800 7.20 6.00 — 1.20 


————— | | | 


COSTS 209 


Twelve section’ school. In small buildings and in 
cases where a twelve room unit of a new building is 
erected it has been found desirable to organize a twelve 
section platoon school. Such schools usually enroll 
grades from [| to III or I to VI. 

In Tables XXIII and XXIV the twelve class non- 
platoon school and the twelve section platoon school 
are compared. In this small non-platoon school the 
excess of teacher service over requirements is just as 
apparent as in the larger units. The twelve section 
platoon school shows an underload of 2.4 teachers. 
This cannot be accounted for as in the larger schools by 
the use of the service of teachers: who have an under- 
load or by double work on the part of auditorium 
and gymnasium teachers. It can only be offset by re- 
ducing the length of the school day from six hours to 
five hours. 3 

This organization has proved satisfactory especially 
when the range of grades is small. If it includes Grades 
I-VIII, the range of the work of some teachers is greater 
than is ordinarily desirable. 

The comparisons in the preceding tables are based 
upon an exact observance of the time allotment in non- 
platoon schools. This is seldom done. These com- 
parisons also assume that special teachers of health, 
music, and art are employed to do all of the work in 
these subjects in non-platoon schools. This is not 
always the case. In consequence of these deviations 
the number of teachers required in the non-platoon 
schools under standard conditions varies somewhat 
from the number actually employed, as is indicated in 


Table XXV. 


210 FHE PLATOON SCHOOL 


TABLE XXV — Non-PLATOooN SCHOOLS 


MeEpIAN NUMBER OF TEACHERS ACTUALLY NUMBER REQUIRED UNDER STANDARD 
EMPLOYED CONDITIONS 
No. Classes Total Teachers No. Classes Total Teachers 
12 14 I2 14.20 
16 18 16 20.16 
20 23.30 20 25.28 
24 30.12 24 29.52 


The data presented in Table XXVI are the results of 
a study of the effect of the introduction of the platoon 
organization into fifteen Detroit non-platoon schools. 
This study reveals clearly how the two types of organi- 
zation utilize the available space and how the change to 


TABLE XXVI— PLAN OF REORGANIZATION OF 15 NON-PLATOON SCHOOLS 
SHOWING EFFECT ON AVAILABLE SPACE AND REQUIRED TEACHER SERVICE 





NUMBER Rooms BA pected 
REQUIRED REQUIRED 
na 

=I a 4 =I o>] 

2 “ ey Lam § S42 | Bla Sel ee 

° 3 = RB of is aa le = os 4 “= 

& fel 3 Zs A sa _ | 28 | & 5 

o S o ia < Z t5: ket a beat A 
FATMIOS Bee ul. OOS 1-6 15 13 2 80} 19. 18.6 4 
Maybury .| 502 1-6 15 13 2 80} 15.6 | 14.6 tT; 
Smith’ <7 ssq2 1-6 12 Io 2 80] 14.3 13.2 Ter 
Van Dyke .| 525 1-8 12 II I 40| 14.6 14.6 0 
Jones ee) bsg5 1-6 13 II 2 80} 15.6 | 14.6 rT: 
Silly dl ard 1-6 I2 10 2 80| 14. 13.4 6 
Rosewins) Sol ns37 1-8 13 II 2 80| 15.6 14.8 8 
Lynch . .| 588 1-8 15 12 3 120 |, 16.2 |, 35.6 6 
Bennett .| 589 1-8 13 12 I 40] 16.6 14.6 r & 
Hanns 2) nal 1050 1-8 17 13 4 160} 19.9 18.8 be 
Palmer . .| 709 1-8 15 13 2 80] 20.4 18.6 1.8 
Howe eee 787 1-8 I5 14 I 40 | 25, 20. ¥ 
Monteith .| 528 1-8 II II ° o| I5.1 13.8 WE 
Scrippsi. 42] 512 1-8 13 II 2 80} 16.6 | 14.8 1.8 
Fairbanks .| 829 I 22 18 4 160} 24.2 22.8 1.4 





Number of rooms released, 30. 
Total capacity of rooms released, 1200. 
Number of teachers released, 15.9. 


COSTS 2T 1 


the platoon school affects the required teacher service. 
A careful scrutiny of this table shows that the intro- 
duction of the platoon organization in these fifteen 
schools provides for the instruction of the same number 
of pupils as the non-platoon organization and at the 
same time releases a total of thirty rooms to be used 
to increase capacity. A further examination of the 
results indicates that if the platoon organization is 
introduced into these schools, the same number of 
pupils can be instructed by the use of 15.9 fewer 
teachers. In other words, this study clearly proves that 
the same number of pupils who are now taught in these 
fifteen schools under the non-platoon organization can, 
by the introduction of the platoon plan, receive more 
instruction by the use of thirty less rooms and 15.9 
less teachers. The thirty rooms with a capacity of 
forty each, may be used to house 1,200 more pupils. 
The decrease of 15.9 teachers at the median elemen- 
tary salary of $1,800 would mean an annual saving in 
the fifteen schools of $28,620. In platoon schools, 
however, auditorium teachers and heads of gymnasiums 
receive salaries of $200 per year in addition to the 
regular schedule. In the fifteen schools involved, 
thirty-four teachers therefore would ‘receive an increase 
of $200 a year or a total of $6,800. If this amount be 
deducted from the $28,620, saving due to release of 15.9 
teachers, the net annual saving in salary as a result of 
introducing the platoon organization into these fifteen 
schools would be $21,820. Thus good salaries can be 
apportioned highly trained special teachers, and the 
platoon system still prove more economical than the 
non-platoon. 


212 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Conclusion. The data arrayed in this chapter seem 
to show conclusively that from the standpoint of build- 
ing costs, and of the cost of instruction, the platoon 
school is more economical than the departmentalized 


non-platoon school. 


CHAPDER. VI 
THE PERSONAL EQUATION 


A school must realize the ideals of the community. 
Although a school organization may exemplify the 
principles of sound educational philosophy and may run 
smoothly as an administrative mechanism, there is 
still the personal equation to be considered. In the 
last analysis a successful school must so function as to 
realize the ideals of the community and command the 
confidence, good will, and support of the parents of the 
children who attend it. Furthermore the personal 
reactions of pupils, teachers, and principals must be 
considered as important factors. Are the pupils 
healthy, happy, purposeful, and industrious? Does the 
organization make for healthier, happier, more en- 
thusiastic, and more industrious teachers? Do teachers 
and principals find in it an organization through which 
their educational ideals may find adequate expression ? 

The limits of this book do not permit of an exhaustive 
survey of this phase of the Detroit platoon school de- 
velopment. A brief summary of results based upon 
six years of experience must suffice. 

Effect upon teachers. The success of the platoon 
schools from the beginning has been in large measure 
due to the favorable attitude of teachers and principals. 
In the home rooms, teachers experienced in teaching 
the fundamentals can work under better conditions and 

213 


214 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


render more effective service than they could render in 
the non-platoon type of organization. In the special 
rooms teachers trained in the newer subjects can per- 
form their work amid favorable surroundings. For 
these and other reasons the number of Detroit ele- 
mentary teachers who do not look with favor on the 
platoon organization is negligible. 

Effect upon principals. Principals have almost with- 
out exception given endorsement to the new organiza- 
tion. The platoon school has come to the principals 
in the light of a new and stimulating opportunity. 
Many principals who are now administering platoon 
schools have passed rapidly from the stage in which 
they were merely receptive to the idea to that in which 
they have become avowed enthusiasts. The number 
who have been lukewarm toward the innovation has 
been surprisingly small, while on the other hand a 
great majority of principals of non-platoon schools are 
awaiting expectantly the day when they may have 
schools of the new type. 

Effect upon pupils. More important still than the 
attitude of principals and teachers is the psycho- 
logical effect of the platoon school upon _ pupils. 
Does it strike a responsive chord in them? If 
it does not it has failed signally. Fortunately we 
have abundant evidence to indicate that pupils are 
enthusiastic about this kind of school. The reactions 
of pupils are perhaps best expressed in their sponta- 
neous letters to the superintendent, principals, and 
teachers and in their communications to the various 
platoon school weeklies and monthlies. These letters 
note with satisfaction that pupils in platoon schools 


THE PERSONAL EQUATION 215 


avoid the monotony of sitting all day in one seat 
and in the same environment; they speak with 
approval of the variety of the work and of the 
opportunity to apply themselves intensively to one 
piece of work for a brief time and then to move on 
to new surroundings and new undertakings; they 
refer with pride and enthusiasm to the opportu- 
nities offered by the gymnasium, auditorium, and 
library, and seem to view the school day as a con- 
tinuous round of pleasant activities with plenty of 
variety and abundant opportunity to move about and 
do things. That the feeling of buoyancy and joy 
which the majority of platoon school pupils feel is the 
outcome of the greater freedom and variety of this 
school, of larger opportunities for initiative, and of new 
and interesting experiences can scarcely be doubted. 
That this optimistic attitude of mind carries over into 
the formal work of the school and makes for greater 
industry and concentration is strongly indicated by 
the measurement results (Part IV) as well as by the 
testimony of teachers who work in platoon schools. 

Attitude of parents. In a general way the attitude 
of parents toward the platoon school is a reflection 
of the attitude of the children. If the child is happy 
and interested in his school work and is making satis- 
factory progress in his studies, the school is almost cer- 
tain to receive the stamp of approval of the parents. 

In introducing the new organization into a com- 
munity, it has been the policy of the school authorities 
to pave the way by informing the parents in advance 
of the aims and purposes of the school and by soliciting 
their support and codperation. This end has been 


216 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


attained through parent-teacher associations. Re- 
cently principals of non-platoon schools located in old 
and inadequate buildings have solicited the opinions of 
parents in those districts as to the advisability of in- 
troducing a modified form of platoon organization and 
in these responses from 85% to 95% of the parents have 
asked for the platoon school. 


GHA PDH Raa UT 
CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS 


While the reorganization of the Detroit elementary 
school system has progressed amid the overwhelming 
approval of teachers, pupils, and the general public, it 
has aroused some opposition, and certain controversial 
questions have arisen which in fairness should receive 
consideration here. 

Some of these questions have been raised by those 
who are opposed to all innovations ; some by those who 
labor under a misunderstanding of the situation; and 
still others by those whose children may have had un- 
pleasant personal experiences with principals or teachers 
of platoon schools. These questions are in the main 
inconsequential and can be answered by correcting 
administrative maladjustments. 

Other questions which have been raised are funda- 
mental and some of them strike at the validity of the 
principles upon which the platoon organization rests. 
These will be considered in detail. 


I. DoEs Not THE PLATOON SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 
MAKE PrRojJECT TEACHING ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE 
BECAUSE OF [TS DEPARTMENTALIZATION ? 


Dr. Bonser’s objection. Dr. F. G. Bonser holds that 

a highly departmentalized organization such as that 

in Detroit makes it difficult if not impossible for 

pupils to pursue project study. He argues for the 
217 


218 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


single-teacher plan and against the specialist, and be- 
lieves that !“‘it is by no means unreasonable to ex- 
pect a teacher to be prepared for that breadth and 
intensity of work representing all of the larger activities 
of life which it is reasonable to expect children to 
experience before they are thirteen years of age.”’ 

This theory in some form or other has been main- 
tained for over twenty years. It has been tried with 
varying degrees of success in small experimental schools 
and by isolated teachers and groups of teachers in 
various places. It has never been worked out in an 
educational unit such as a large city school system. 
As far as the writer is aware no one has demonstrated 
with any degree of finality that an elementary grade 
child can pursue purposeful activity only under the 
guidance of one teacher. It would seem in fact that a 
child would labor under a serious handicap if he must 
receive his stimulation and guidance from one personal- 
ity in the school. Purposing is a direct outgrowth of 
the perception of values. Does it not seem reasonable 
that a child who in the course of his school day meets a 
number of enthusiastic, stimulating specialists in the 
library, auditorium, nature study room, industrial arts 
room, and other special departments, will be awakened 
to a greater variety of purposeful activities than one who 
imbibes his inspiration from one person whose enthu- 
siasms must of necessity be limited ? 

The answer of the platoon school. The most con- 
vincing answer is that project teaching is success- 
fully carried on in the platoon schools of Detroit. 
Educational leaders in Detroit are believers in the 

1 BonsER, F. G., The Elementary School Curriculum. 


CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS 219 


theories of Dr. W. H. Kilpatrick. In the program of in- 
struction the project method is fundamental. Detroit 
probably places as much emphasis upon learning 
through purposeful activity as any city. The platoon 
organization lends itself to individual, class, grade, 
or school projects. The project may originate in 
any department of the school and the attainment of 
the purpose may come only after the individual or 
the group has utilized material in many or all of the 
other departments of the school. For example, a class 
in social science may elect to study the question of 
immigration to the United States with the idea of 
presenting their results before a large group in the 
auditorium. This project originates in the social 
science room; carries the group to the auditorium for 
moving pictures and stereopticon views, to the in- 
dustrial arts department for costumes and scenery, to 
the music department for songs, to the health de- 
partment for dances, to the literature department for 
stories and poems, to the library and home rooms for 
other material; and ultimates in a pageant in the 
auditorium which is a final expression of all of the 
group’s efforts and a realization of the project. 

The growing complexity of society during the last 
two decades has brought with it specialization and 
division of labor. The expanding curriculum in re- 
sponse to this increased complexity has made depart- 
mentalization in the schools inevitable. The platoon 
school has merely accepted the situation and utilized 
this principle in the most effective way possible. It 
may be that in the course of time a sufficient number 
of super-teachers may be evolved who may be able to 


220 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


comprehend and utilize all of the aspects of human 
experience that are necessary to direct the elementary 
child in his purposeful efforts. There is no indication 
that that day is near at hand. In the meantime the 
- practical administrator must strive as best he may to 
reconcile his practice with his educational philosophy, 
conceding, of course, that his actual achievement lags 
far behind his cherished ideals. Until those who 
question the practicability of project teaching in a 
platoon school shall develop an organization in which 
their theories will work successfully on a large scale, 
the platoon school must be recognized as a distinct step 
in advance. 


II. Do Not PUupPiLs IN PLATOON SCHOOLS LOSE 
THE PERSONAL TOUCH ? 


The lack of ‘‘mothering.’’ It has been claimed that 
the child in the platoon school loses the ‘‘ mother- 
ing’’ to-which he is accustomed. In a completely 
departmentalized school this possibly might be true. 
In the Detroit platoon school it is not. One of the 
strongest features of the Detroit plan is that the pupil 
remains under the control of one teacher two and one 
half hours of the day. This should be sufficient guaran- 
tee that he will not lose to any extent the personal 
influence of the teacher. 

Those who fear the loss of the personal touch in the 
platoon school are thinking in terms of the old one-room 
school in which one teacher taught the pupils during 
the entire school day. As far as Detroit is concerned 
the day when a pupil recited all day to one teacher has 
long since passed. A study of the non-platoon schools 


CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS 221 


shows that even the kindergarten and first-grade pupils 
now come into contact with several teachers during the 
day. If we consider grades above the third we find 
that 44% of the pupils in the fourth grade, 66% of the 
pupils in the fifth grade, 78% of the pupils in the sixth 
grade, 84% of the pupils in the seventh grade, and 66% 
of the pupils in the eighth grade are taught by five or 
more teachers. The range in these grades is as fol- 
lows ° 

Fourth grade from 1 teacher to 10 teachers. 

Fifth grade from 2 teachers to 11 teachers. 

Sixth grade from 1 teacher to Io teachers. 


Seventh grade from 1 teacher to 9 teachers. 
Eighth grade from 2 teachers to 10 teachers. 


The answer. It is apparent that if the personal 
touch were lost by contact with anumber of teachers 
the effects of it would have been apparent in the non- 
platoon schools years ago. It is a matter of fact that 
in a platoon school a pupil receives all his instruction 
in the fundamentals — reading, writing, spelling, and 
arithmetic — from the home room teacher assisted by 
a relief teacher for one half hour each day, while in the 
non-platoon school these subjects are frequently distrib- 
uted among several teachers. It would seem that as 
far as this criticism applies to the grades above the 
second it is not valid. | 

What shall be said of departmentalization in the first 
and second grades? No definite data are at hand to 
warrant a final answer to this question. Our experi- 
ence has shown, however, that small children have 
greater power of self-direction than they are ordinarily 
reputed to have. In schools in which the first and 


222 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


second grades are a part of the platoon organization, 
pupils of these grades find little difficulty in following 
the daily program. They enter enthusiastically into 
the varied activities of the school and show every indi- 
cation of being happy, contented, and industrious. 
First- and second-grade pupils spend two and one half 
hours a day under the direct control of home room 
teachers. Here they are taught reading, phonics, 
spelling, and language. 

In schools in which the first and second grades are 
omitted from the platoon, parents and principals fre- 
quently request that they be included in order that 
pupils in these grades may have the advantages of the 
special activities. 

Special teachers of art, music, and health do meet a 
large number of pupils daily and consequently do not 
have the personal contacts as firmly fixed as those of 
the home room teacher. This weakness, if it is a © 
weakness, is inherent in departmentalization and ap- 
plies with equal force to the art, music, and health 
teachers in non-platoon schools, who teach for a short 
time each week in each room. 


III. ARE Not PupiILs IN PLATOON SCHOOLS UNDER 
A NERVOUS STRAIN ? 


The question of nervous strain and the answer. 
It may be admitted at the outset that the activities 
of the platoon school are more varied, more interesting, 
and consequently more stimulating than those of the 
schools of older type. Critics attacked the old schools 
because they were mechanical, deadening, and unin- 
spiring. It was said that they crushed the pupils’ 


CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS 22% 


initiative and spirit. Now we have remedied all of 
these faults and it is said that the schools are too inter- 
esting, too stimulating, and that some pupils are so 
thrilled by their school experience that they cannot 
sleep. Our experience has not shown this to be true in 
the case of the vast majority of children. There always 
have been and probably always will be individual 
children with highly organized nervous systems who 
are overstimulated by almost any kind of group 
contacts. The platoon organization easily adjusts 
itself to these cases. Such pupils may attend school 
for as long or as short a period each day as their parents 
elect. They may come from an hour and a half each 
session and receive their instruction in the funda- 
mentals only, or they may attend for a longer period of 
the day and participate in some of the special class work 
as well. If the question of physical fitness is involved, 
pupils may also have a program that will permit them 
to enter school late in the morning, have an extended 
noon hour, or go home early in the afternoon. 

When a platoon school is first opened the younger 
children sometimes find difficulty in readjustment, but 
after the organization has been in operation for a reason- 
able time all difficulties of this type disappear. In this 
general connection the question has been raised as to 
the merits and demerits of the six-hour day which pre- 
vails in platoon schools. For the majority of children 
and especially for those whose home environment is not 
the best, a six-hour day of judiciously intermingled 
work-study-play is desirable and practicable. For 
children whose parents prefer to have them play at 
home rather than -at school a shorter day may be 


224 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


inaugurated. For children whose physical require- 
ments make it desirable, adjustments of the time 
schedule are made as indicated above. 


IV. Dors Not FREQUENT CHANGE OF CLASSES 
WASTE TIME AND CAUSE DISORDER ? 


Loss in time and order. In response to the first 
part of the question a study of time spent in change 
of classes was made, and it was found that in a well- 
managed school not more than six minutes out of the 
six-hour day were spent in changing classes. This 
amount of time is too small for serious consideration. 

How avoided. The whole question of hall traffic has 
been made a matter of careful study. In new buildings 
all home rooms are located on the second floor and all 
special rooms on the first floor. Pupils in home rooms 
leave those rooms once in the forenoon and once in the 
afternoon. Atno other time is there a change of classes 
on this floor. Special classes on the first floor change 
rooms each half hour. Persons visiting these schools 
and noting the movement of pupils have erroneously 
inferred that all pupils were moving frequently. 
Rightly understood the change of classes is one of the 
most advantageous features of the organization. It 
rests pupils and permits them to relax while moving 
to the various rooms. A frequent change of scene and 
work is restful and makes for more intense application 
to each separate task. 

Those who fear that the change of classes makes for 
disorder and confusion are those who look askance at 
all freedom of action on the part of pupils lest it de- 
generate into license. This fear has no basis in fact. 


CONTROVERSIAL QUESTIONS 225 


Platoon schools vary of course in the degree of self- 
control exercised by pupils, but it is worthy of note 
that disorder in these schools is rare, and that pupils in 
general are too busy and too happily engaged to be 
disorderly. Misbehavior in school is often the out- 
growth of monotony and an intense desire for physical 
relaxation and relief. Frequent change of classes in 
platoon schools breaks the monotony and acts as a 
safety valve. 


CHAPTER VIII 
CONCLUSION 


Effect of complexity of modern society. A genetic 
study of the elementary school curriculum reveals it 
as the product of many diverse influences, religious, 
educational, industrial, and political, which have been 
active from time to time since the days of the Protestant 
Reformation. The rapidly expanding curriculum re- 
flects the growing complexity of modern society. 

If the school is to prepare a child for contemporary 
social life it must give him a cross-section of life itself ; 
offer him a variety of contacts; arouse in him a 
many-sided interest; afford him an opportunity for 
purposing and for the realization of his purposes; 
and develop in him initiative and habits of self-ap- 
praisal, self-direction, and self-control. To accomplish 
these ends the school must provide a broad, varied, and 
highly enriched curriculum. 

The school organization exists solely as a vehicle 
through which the curriculum may effectively function. 
The same influences which have shaped the curriculum 
have indirectly determined the changing character of 
the organization. Nevertheless, the conservatism of the 
schoolmaster has often preserved the existing forms of 
organization long after the expansion and enrichment 
of the curriculum has indicated the necessity of re- 

226 


CONCLUSION 227 


organization and readjustment. Ample evidence of 
this is found in the reluctance of the Boston school- 
masters to accept the new graded system as introduced 
in the Quincy Grammar School in 1848, and in the still 
more impressive fact that in spite of the unparalleled 
progress of the last half-century this seventy-five-year- 
old grammar school organization with slight modifi- 
cation still prevails throughout the land, and is warmly 
approved and defended by many of the present genera- 
tion of schoolmen against any innovation. 

The present-day advocates of the traditional grammar 
school organization have made but one concession to the 
demands of the modern curriculum. While they cling 
to the form of the old graded plan they have sought to 
combine with it some method of departmentalization. 
This study proves without question that such an 
organization is a makeshift and that it is expensive and 
wasteful. While the process of evolution may be slow, 
no intelligent person who knows the facts can doubt 
that at an early day the old graded organization must 
give way to a new organization more in harmony 
with the ideals and requirements of this generation. 
The signs of the times indicate that that day is near at 
hand. : 

Before 1840 few people gave serious thought to the 
relationship between the curriculum and organization 
and the physical environment in which they must 
function. Fundamental architectural changes have 
come gradually because modifications in buildings have 
in the main waited upon readjustments in organization. 
The old “ hall’’ plan of building gradually gave way 
after 1848 to the type of structure exemplified in the 


228 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


Quincy Grammar School. The introduction of the 
graded school made this imperative. But since the old 
grammar school organization still persists with slight 
modification there has been no fundamental change in the 
basic room units in most of the buildings erected in 
recent times. Such architectural readjustments as have 
been made were in response to the introduction of en- 
tirely new educational units such as the kindergarten, 
manual and industrial arts, and health education. In 
a majority of the school buildings erected in the last 
decade even these units have been provided for in 
traditional classrooms. Today, however, there are 
signs of progress, and an increasing number of school 
systems are beginning to erect buildings in terms of 
the modern curriculum and of the needs of the com- 
munity. 

From a consideration of these facts we are driven 
irresistibly to the conclusion that while the curriculum 
has kept pace with the evolution of society, the organi- 
zation and building are many years behind the times. 
The logic of the situation demands a new organization 
and a new building. The platoon school meets this 
demand because it squares with the past. 

How does the platoon school serve the present? 
The data embraced in this study presents convincing 
evidence that the platoon school reflects in the largest 
way possible the best ideals and aims of society; that 
in its theories and in its practice it does honor to the 
great educational leaders, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, 
and Herbart, and to the great contemporary molders 
of educational thought, Dewey, Thorndike, Kilpatrick, 
Judd, and Courtis; that before all else it gives con- 


CONCLUSION 229 


sideration to the child’s physical well-being and assures 
him an opportunity to work, study, and play under 
favorable conditions; that in spite of its marked 
emphasis on the physical and cultural phases of edu- 
cation a scientific measurement of results in the three 
R’s in the platoon schools over a period of years reveals 
a higher standard in those schools than in the non- 
platoon schools over a like period; that the platoon 
organization as developed in Detroit has proved to be 
a smooth-running administrative mechanism which 
operates to the satisfaction of pupils, teachers, princi- 
pals, and communities; .and finally, that without 
making unreasonable financial demands upon the 
public, the platoon school offers a varied and enriched 
curriculum taught by well-trained specialists, in a 
physical environment that conserves the health, safety, 
and happiness of the children. 

What does the platoon school promise for the future ? 
If in the light of present tendencies one may predict 
what is to follow in education, it would appear that the 
school of the future will provide for greater individual 
freedom and opportunity for initiative; that the 
curriculum will be still further differentiated, and that 
there will be individual-group instruction. The platoon 
school is preparing the way for this outcome by re- 
moving fixed and rigid restraints and making the 
pupils free and self-directing. If in the future the 
curriculum is broken into more varied units the special 
facilities of the platoon school building will lend them- 
selves readily to newer forms of activity. 

In these days when the results of scientific research 
are rapidly breaking down traditions and developing 


230 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


new and more rational points of view, it is not to be 
expected that any form of organization will stand for a 
long period of time without readjustment. The platoon > 
school is only the next step, but it is a long step in the 
direction of progress and worthwhile achievement. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BARNARD, HENRY — School Architecture. Case, Tiffany, & Co., 
Hartford, Connecticut, 1848. 

BEERS, SETH P.— Annual Report, Superintendent Common 
Schools, Connecticut, 1848. 

BisHop, NATHAN — Report of Superintendent of Public Schools, 
Providence, R. I., 1846. 

BonseEr, F. G.— The Elementary School Curriculum. The Mac- 
millan Company, 1921. 

BuNKER, FRANK F.— Reorganization of the Public School Sys- 
tem. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1916, No. 8. 

CALDWELL, O. W., and Courtis, 5. A. — Then and Now in Edu- 
cation. World Book Co., 1924. 

CouURSAULT, JESSE H.— The Principles of Education. Silver, 
Burdett, & Co., 1920. 

Courtis, S. A.— Education as Purposing. The Detroit Journal 
of Education, February, 1922. 

CUBBERLEY, E. P.— The History of Education. Houghton 
Mifflin, 1920. 
The Principal and His School. Houghton Mifflin, 1923. 
Public Education in the United States. Houghton Mifflin, 
IQI9. 
Readings in the History of Education. Houghton Mifflin, 
1920. Y 

DEWEY, JOHN — Interest as Related to Will. 
Second Supplement to the Herbart Yearbook for 1895. 
School and Society. University of Chicago Press, 1900. 

DEWEY, JOHN and EVELYN — Schools of Tomorrow. E. P. Dut- 
ton & Co., 1915. 

DExTER, E. G.—A History of Education in the United States. 
The Macmillan Company, 1914. 

DONOVAN, JOHN J., and OTHERS — School Architecture. The Mac- 
millan Company, 1921. 

ry | 


agp THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


EATON, HorAcCE— Report of State Superintendent of Common 
Schools, Vermont, 1846. 
JOHNSON, CLIFTON — Old Time Schools and School Books. ‘The - 

Macmillan Company, 1904. 

KILPATRICK, W. H.— Educational Value of Project Method. 
The Detroit Journal of Education, March, 1921. 

The Project Method. Teachers College Record, September, 
1918. 

Teaching by the Project Method. The Detroit Journal of 
Education, December, 1920. 

MANN, HoracE— Report of Secretary of Board of Education, 
Massachusetts, 1846. 

MayHEw, IRA— Manual of the System of Primary Instruction 
Pursued in the Model Schools of the British and Foreign School 
Society, 1839. 

Report Superintendent of Public Instruction, Michigan, 1847. 

Monroe, PAuL— Cyclopedia of Education. The Macmillan 
Company, I91I-1913. Froebel, F., in Vol. II, pages 213-223. 
Herbart, J. F., in Vol. III, pages 250-253. Textbook in the 
History of Education. The Macmillan Company, 1921. 

Moore, E. C.— Fifty Years of American Education. Ginn & . 
Cai 191 7 

PARKER, S. C.— History of Modern Elementary Education. 
Ginn & Co., 1912. 

Quincy, Jostan — Address at Dedication of Quincy Grammar 
School, Boston, 1848. 

SPAIN, CHARLES L.— The Platoon School in Detroit. Board of 
Education Research Bulletin, 1923, No. 2. 

THORNDIKE, E. L. — Educational Psychology, Teachers College, 
Columbia University, 1913. 

YounG, SAMUEL — Report of Superintendent of Common Schools, 
New York, 1844. 






























































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V9 HONOUHL GI SAAVAD — IOOHOS NOOLVIg NOILOAS NATLXIS ‘SHILIAILOY IVI0ddS JO WVADOUg 


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IHE PLATOON SCHOOL 


242 





























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V9 HONOUHL gl 
SHaVA) — IOOHOS NOOLVIg NOILOGS ANOA-ALNAM |, ‘SHILIAILOY TvI0ddg 40 WVADONd 


243 


APPENDIX 



































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THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


244 


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(panuyuo)) V9 HONOUHL gi 
SHAVAD) — IOOHIS NOOLVIg NOILOAS ANOA-ALNAM] ‘SAILIAILOY TvIOgdS AO WvaDOAg 


APPENDIX 


For the greater convenience of the reader, 
the next program is begun on page 246. It 
may: thus be read continuously. Notes apply- 
ing to the program on pages 246-247 may be 
found on page 248. 


245 






































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— 
nN V8 HOQMONHL GI SAdVAD — IOOHOS NOOLWIgd NOILOUS ANOI-ALNAM | ‘SAILIAILOY ‘IVIOddg 4O WVADOAd 


247 


APPENDIX 


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THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


248 





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V8 HONOUHL GI Ssaavay 


TOOHDS NOOLVIg NOILOAS ANOA-ALNAM LT “SAILIAILOY TVIOddS NI HAOM S,AAHOVAL AO LNAWNOISSY 


249 


APPENDIX 









































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THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


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————— 


(panuyuo)) WR HONOUHL gi saavuy 





TOOHIS NOOLVId NOILIAS YNOA-ALNAM LT ‘SILIAILOY TWI0ddg NI HAOM S,AAHOVAL JO LNANNODISSY 


———————————————— — ——<—-- 


YEAR 


1918-1919 
1919-1920 
1920-1921 
IQ2I-1922 . 
1922—September, 


APPENDIX 


1924. 


No. PLatoon SCHOOLS 


6 
15 
29 
42 
77 


251 


In the tabulation presented below the 77 platoon schools now in operation (Septem- 


ber, 1924) are divided into three groups: 


(1) New buildings designed slant for the platoon organization. 
(2) New additions to existing 
(3) Existing buildings reorganized. 


SCHOOL 


Maybee . 
Kennedy 
Wilson 
Keating . 
Pattengill 
Balch 
Cooper . 
Custer 
White 
Courville 
Guyton . 
Hosmer . 
Poe s. 
Brady . 
Duffield . 
Ferry 
Noble 


DETROIT PLATOON SCHOOLS 


ORGANIZED Cc 


uildings. 


1918-1924 


I. NEW BUILDINGS 


PuPIL 


GRADES 


APACITY| INCLUDED 


PREDOMINATING NATIONALITY 


DSSS ee Oe eS 


1918-19 
1918-19 
1919-20 
1920-21 
1920-21 
1921-22 
1921-22 
1921-22 
1921-22 
1923-24 
1923-24 
1923-24 
1923-24 
1924-25 
1924-25 
1924-25 
1924-25 


Lithuania 
Canada 
Canada 
Canada 
Canada 
Wiest 
Poland 
Italy 
105, Se 
Poland 
Canada 
Belgium 
Canada 
Canada 


Italy 
Germany 
Germany 
Germany 
England 
Poland 
Germany 
Canada 

Us Se(Cols) 
URSa (Cols) 
Germany 
Canada 


Use GConil Ue es 
ULS: 


Canada 


Germany 
England 





252 THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


II. NEW ADDITIONS TO OLD BUILDINGS 


PREDOMINATING NATIONALITY 
Puri! | GRADES 


SCHOOL ORGANIZED CAPACITY|INCLUDED 

1 2 s 
Columbian. . .| 1918-19 1080 K6 LU U. S. (Col.)| Poland 
Hely a, ee RT OTOH79O 960 K8 Use Poland Germany 
Russellav ew.) hata LOLS—1O 1370 K8 Italy Russia Poland 
Stephens . . .| 1918-19 1120 K8 Wey Germany |Poland 
Angell . . . .} 1919-20 I120 K8 US: Canada England 
Greenfield Pk. .| 1919-20 1240 K8 USS: England Canada 
Greusel . . . .| 1919-20 1240 K8 Poland Urs: Germany 
Lincoln’. '. >... }) "1919-20 1505 K8 Russia U.S. (Col.)| Poland 
Marxhausen . .] 1919-20 1080 K6 iG), te: Italy Germany 
Alger > 40s ci jen b0 20=2% 720 K8 Ute Russia Poland 
Carstens . ees) 6020-21 1465 K8 Uss: Canada Belgium 
Dwyer .. . .| 1920-21 1280 K8 Russia Poland Italy 
Billige 924 a s020—2T I120 K8 Poland Was: Germany 
Field pees MP Sb. hopye om 680 K8 LUser Canada England 
Longfellow. . .| 1920-21 1160 K8 Wise Canada W..S; (alk) 
Moore, . ap ale EO2O-2T 1680 K8 Russia WAS: Poland 
Nichols” ai.) sil kO20-2T 865 K7 Wes: Canada Germany 
Parke fsb aoe he LOSO-2 7 850 K7 Poland US Germany 
Thirkell. . . .| 1920-21 I120 K6 Wieee Canada England 
Trowbridge . .| 1920-21 640 K6 Russia U.S. (Col.)| Poland 
Crosman 9". *. | 1927-22 905 K6 Uss3 Canada Russia 
Davison.) oe GalniO21—22 2000 K8 Us: Poland Wasu(Gols) 
Doty. eee Woz te 890 K6 Ueis: Canada Russia 
Estabrook . . :| 1921-22 720 K8 US; Canada England 
George . . . .| 1921-22 960 K7 Italy U. S. (Col.)| Russia 
Houghton . . .| 1921-22 865 K8 ease Canada England 
Majeske . . .| 1921-22 880 K7 Poland URS: Russia 
Marry io ty 4. eS eider-22 720 K8 Rares Canada England 
Sampson . . .| 1921-22 1400 K8 UES: Canada Germany 
burton... fees oe ees 800 K8 UCS: England Canada 
Chandler. . .| 1922-23 865 K8 Dyes: Italy Germany 
Clippert . . .| 1922-23 r160 K8 Poland Italy Us Sse 
Franklin . . .| 1922-23 2105 K8 Us; Canada Malta 
Grayling ... .| 1922-23 520 K8 Ao Canada England 
Holmes, A. L.. .| 1922-23 IIO5 K6 La Italy Poland 
Holmes, O. W. .| 1922-23 1000 K8 LURES? Poland Germany 
Marcy? (so. 2.) 1622-23 680 K7 (Rese Germany |Canada 
Wingert.. . . «| 1922-23 985 K8 Use: U.S. (Col.)| Canada 
Barstow.) s) aes Jo Ors S2n amr nzoO K6 Italy U.S: (Colt Ura. 
Hutchinson . .| 1923-24 1185 K8 Uss: Belgium Germany 
Garfield... . '. {| "92324 2040 K8 Poland Canada England 
Lillibridge . . . 1923-24 1000 K8 Uses Roumania /}Austria 


APPENDIX 253 


III. EXISTING BUILDINGS REORGANIZED 


PREDOMINATING NATIONALITY 


Pupit! | GRADES 
SCHOOL ORGANIZED CAPACITY| INCLUDED 

1 2 3 
Breitmeyer I9I9Q-20 865 K7 Us: Russia Wise (Gols) 
Lingemann 1919-20 880 K8 We SY Canada England 
Newberry 1919-20 840 K6 Poland U.S: Russia 
Bishop 1920-21 1680 K8 Russia U.S. (Col.)| Poland 
Pingree . 1923-24 620 K6 Was Germany | Belgium 
Smith 1923-24 600 K6 Uss: Germany |Italy 
Tilden 1923-24 600 K6 USS: Canada England 
Chaney . 1924-25 580 K6 Us st Poland Canada 
Goldberg 1924-25 1480 K8 USS: Canada England 
Higgins . 1924-25 680 K6 Uses: Germany |Hungary 
Hillger 1924-25 640 K6 Ue Se Germany |Canada 
Howe 1924-25 600 K8 Ua: Canada Germany 
Lynch 19 24-25 640 K8 Ue Poland Germany 
Maybury 1924-25 760 K6 Uss: Canada England 
Rose . 1924-25 580 K8 es: Germany |Canada 
Shite ah BAe ie 1924-25 560 K6 Use Poland German 
Van Dyke . 1924-25 520 K8 eS: Canada Englan 
Webster . 1924-25 720 K8 UaS: Canada England 


1 Capacities in above tables do not include kindergarten. 


254 


THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


COMPARATIVE CAPACITIES OF 77 SCHOOL BUILDINGS UNDER NoOn- 
PLATOON AND PLATOON ORGANIZATIONS 





ScHOOLS 


Alger 

Angell 

Balch 

Barstow 

Bishop . 

Brady 
Breitmeyer 
Burton . 
Carstens 
Chandler 
Chaney . 
Clippert 
Columbian 
GOODE!’ ,. mae 
Courvilles i) sens 


Estabrook . 
Ferry 

Field 

Franklin 

Garfield . 

George . 
Goldberg 
Grayling. oe 
Greenfield Park . 
Greusel . yee 
Guyton . 

Hely . 

Higgins seme 
Hiligerie: nena 
Haimes,-Ac Latte 
Holmes, O. W. . 
Hosmer. 
Houghton . 
Howe 
Hutchinson 
Keating 
Kennedy 
Lillibridge 
Lincoln . 
Lingemann 
Longfellow 
Lynch , 
Majeske 

Marcy 

Marry apts, 
Marxhausen 
Maybee 
Maybury 

Moore 
Newberry . 
Nichols 


Non-PLATOON 
CAPACITY! 


ee ee ee 





PLATOON 
CAPACITY } 


INCREASE 
CAPACITY 


PER CENT 
INCREASE 


ScHOOLS 


Noble . 
Parke. . 
Pattengill 
Pingree 
Poe. 

Rose .. 
Russell 
Sampson . 
Sill . 
Smith . 
Stephens . 
Thirkell 
Tilden . 


Trowbridge : 


Van Dyke 
Webster 
White . 
Wilson 
Wingert 


1 Capacities in above table do not include kindergarten. 


APPENDIX 


Non-PLATOON 
CAPACITY 


PLATOON 
CAPACITY 


INCREASE 
CAPACITY 


255 


PER CENT 
INCREASE 


720 
I000 
985 


THE PLATOON SCHOOL 


256 








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HATNGAHOS ANIL 


INDEX 


Acceleration, 186 

Activities, auxiliary, 94; 
ual, 15 

Adapting the school plant to the 
organization and curriculum, 
133 

Administrative details: care of 
books and supplies, 60; care 
of wraps, 61; recess, 62; relief 
teachers, 62; attendance rec- 
ords, 63; seating of special 
rooms, 64 

Administrative rooms, 161, 162 

Aims, of education shifting, 11 ; 
of platoon organization, 44 

Alcott, W. A:,.113 

American colonial schools, Puri- 
tan period, 1620-1775, 2; types 
of, 28 

American educational biography, 
31 

American elementary 
after 1750, types of, 30 

American Institute of Instruc- 
tion, 9 

American Preceptor, 6 

Analysis of required teacher serv- 
ice in non-platoon and platoon 
schools, 203 

Annual Report, Seventh, of Mas- 
sachusetts, 34; of Connecticut, 


man- 


schools 


109 
Architecture, school, 103 
Arithmetic, mental, 12; not 


required in colonial period, 3; 


out of proportion to impor- 
tances; rose. to first. rank, 
1825, 7; thought difficult, 3 

Arrangement of recess periods, 62 

Art room, 71, 160 

Attendance records, 63 

Auditorium, the, 80; as an 
integrating and _ correlating 
unit, 84; of Doty School, 198; 
of Nichols School, 198; plans 
of, 153, 156 

Auxiliary, activities, 94; units, 
162 


Barnard, Henry, 10, 31, 108, 130 

Bible as textbook, the, 3 

Bingham, Caleb, 6, 31; Memoir 
of, 31 

“Blue-backed”’ Spelling Book, 6 

Boston school committee, plan 
of, 30; report in 1845, 32 

Bowdoin School, 121 

Brady School, plans of, illustrat- 
ing unit construction, 146, 150, 
I51 

Brimmer Grammar School, 116 

Building costs, 194 

Building, platoon school, 
types of platoon school, 55 

Buildings, erection of new, 137 

Burris, W. P., 41 


52 5 


Care, of books and supplies, 60; 
of wraps, 61 
Catechism as a textbook, 3 


257 


258 

Change, in attitude toward edu- 
cation, 4; effect of, of classes, 
224 

Changing educational ideals and 
aims, 128 

Classes, planning, 59 

Clinic, 162 

Colburn’s Arithmetic, 10 

Columbian Orator, 6 

Comparative, cost per pupil of 
new buildings organized on the 
platoon and non-platoon plans, 
199; costs of auditoriums, 
gymnasiums, and playgrounds 
with equivalent space in class- 
rooms, 196; results, platoon 
and non-platoon schools, 169 

Comparison, of grade medians, 
above and below city median, 
January, 1920, to June, 1923, 
179; of,median scores, June, 
1922, 170; of medianscores, 
four-year and _ three-year 
groups, January, 1920, to June, 
1923, 1723 of results in schools 
before and after organization 
on platoon plan, 182 

Complete elementary school, the, 
36 

Conclusion, 226 

Controversial questions, 217 

Corridors with individual lockers, 


163, 164 

Costs, 123; building, 194; com- 
parative, 196; instructional, 
199 


Coursault, Jesse, 22, 23 

Couriers. A e2r2% 

Courville School, 148 

Curriculum, elementary school, 
of 1775, 5; no extensive ex- 


INDEX 


pansion of, in 1775-1825, 6; 
of 1825, 8; of 1850, 10; of 
1875, 14; of 1900, 17, 18; of 
the future, 26 


Dame schools, 29; combine with 
writing schools, 30 

Data on platoon schools, 166 

Declamation established as sub- 
ject, 6 

Definition of elementary schools, 
I 

Departmentalization, 37 

Detroit platoon school organiza- 
tion, 48 

Dewey, John, 19, 22 

Dilworth’s The Schoolmaster’s 
Assistant, 6 

District schools, period from 
Revolutionary War to 1850, 
107 

Drawing, 13 

Duffield School, 140 

Duplication of teacher service, 
201 


Early American colonial school 
buildings, 104 

Education, aims of, shifting, 11; 
change in attitude toward, 4 

Educational, changing, ideals and 
aims, 128; progress, 19; psy- 
chology, 43; results, 165 

Effect of platoon school, upon 
parents, 214; upon pupils, 
214; upon teachers, 213 

Elementary school, building, evo- 
lution of, 103; the complete, 
36; organization, evolution of, 
27 

Elementary school curriculum, 


INDEX 


as an evolution, 1; colonial, 3; 
Pmale7s, 5; Ole t825, 28% Mor 
1850, 10; of 1875, 14; of 1900, 
18; religious in aims, 2; reor- 
ganization of, 14; resultant of 
two influences, 2 

Elementary schools, appeared 
slowly in England, 27; defi- 
nition of, 1; evolved from 
Puritan schools, 29; in colo- 
nial times, 28; several types 
in America, 2 

Enrollment, 57 

Erection of new buildings, 137 

European, beginnings, 1 ; schools, 
27, 103 

Evolution of the grammar school 
principal, 36 


Failures, 186 

First assistants, 63 

First lessons in arithmetic on 
plan of Pestalozzi, 10 

Fowle, W. B., 31 

Froebel, Friedrich, 14, 19 

Fundamentals, 64; time spent 
on, in platoon schools, 168 


Gary schools, 40, 41; outstand- 
ing features of, 41 

Gates, on tests and scales, 22 

Geography, home, 13;  intro- 
duced by Jedediah Morse, 7 

Good behavior or morals and 
manners, 7 

Goodrich’s History of the United 
States, 8 

Graded grammar schools, 34 

Grammar, introduced, 16; taught 
in 1875, 12 


259 


Grammar-school, buildings, 115; 
principal, 36 
Gymnasiums, 153 


Hartwell, S. O., 42 

Health, 74, 130; in relation to 
school architecture, 130 

Herbart, Johann Friedrich, 16, 19 

History, introduced in 19th cen- 
tury, 8; opposed, 9; primary, 
Buccs Oe CurTiCUliny 717. 
taught in schools, 13 


History of the United States, 
Goodrich’s, 8 

History of the United States, 
Webster’s, 8 


Holmes, A. L., School, 136 
Home economics, 161 
Home rooms, 152 
Hornbook, 3 


‘““Tmportance of Physical Educa- 
tion,” 9 

Important factors influencing the 
development of elementary 
school architecture, 127 

Individual lockers, 163, 164 

Individualization, 25 

Infant or primary schools, 33 

Instructional, costs, 199; units, 
152 

Interests as Related to Will, 20 

Introduction, to chapter on 
“Costs,” 193; to chapter on 
‘Educational Results,’ 165 


James, in relation to Thorndike, 
21 
Johnson, Clifton, 106 


260 


Kilpatrick, and the aims of edu- 
cation, 22, 23 
Kindergarten, 15; suite, 157, 158 


Lancasterian, schoolhouses, 116; 
schools, 32, 116 

Laws of learning, 21 

Leisure time, 66 

Library, 94, 153, 157 

Literature, added to curriculum, 
17; of first importance, 17 

Literature room, 60, 71 

Lunch room, 162 


Mann, Horace, 34, 110, 112 

Manual, activities, 15; and in- 
dustrial arts room, I61 ;. train- 
ing, 16 

Manual of the System of Primary 
Instruction Pursued in_ the 
Model Schools of the British and 
Foreign School Society, 116 

Mayhew, Ira, 110 

Measurements, 22, 166 

Memoir of Caleb Bingham, 31 

Methods of tabulation, 167 

Middle schools, 36 

Modifications in elementary or- 
ganization in response to ex- 
panding school curriculum, 37 

Monitorial system, 32 

Morse, Jedediah, 7 

Movement toward segregation 
and graded schools, 119 

Murray, Lindley, 6 

Music, in Boston schools, 13; 
room, 66, 160 


New England Primer, 6 
New England schoolhouses, 104 
Nichols School auditorium, 196 


INDEX 


Number of platoon schools (by 
years), 48 


Official adoption of 
school organization, 46 

Old time Schools and School Books, 
106 

Open-window rooms, 97 

Organization, duplicate plan of, 
42; plan of, 50; of platoon 
schools in Detroit, 44, 48 

Organization of instruction, 64; 
fundamentals in, 64; leisure 
time in, 66; health in, 74; 
social-civic work in, 80; social- 
science work in, 89; vocational 
work in, 9I 

Overcrowded schools and the 
platoon plan, 97 


platoon 


Parents, attitude of, 215 

Parish school, 29 

Pattengill School, 138 

Penmanship, 12 

Percentage of grade comparison 
above and below city median 
by subjects, January, 1920, to 
June, 1923, 178 

Period, 1775-1825, 5; 1825- 
1850, 8; 1850-1875, 10; 1875- 
1900, 14 

Personal, equation, 213; touch, 
220 

Pestalozzi, 10, II, 12, 15, 17, 19 

Philbrick, John D., 35 

Philosophy, educational, Dewey’s, 
19, 22; lack of, before 1860, 
11; Pestalozzi’s, 11 

Plan, of Boston school commit- 
tee, 30; of platoon organiza- 
tion, 50 


INDEX 


Planning classes, 59 
Platoon organization, 44 
Platoon school, experiment in 


Detroit, 1918-1919, 44; prov- 


ing its worth, 165 

Platoon schools, 42-230; admin- 
istrative details in, 60; of Kal- 
amazoo, 42; project teaching 
in, 217; types of, 55 

Plays 15} 74 

Play rooms, 153 

Primary schools, 33, 36 

Principal of grammar _ school, 
evolution of, 36 

Private adventure schools, 28 

Private school, Caleb Bingham’s, 
ay 

Prize schoolroom, 113 

Program making, 56; essential 


considerations of: space, 56; 
enrollment, 57; time _ allot- 
ment, 57; planning classes, 
59 

Project teaching in platoon 
schools, 217 

Psychology, behavioristic, of 
Thorndike, 21; educational, 


Purpose of early education, 2, 3 
Purposing, 23 


Questions, controversial, 217 
Quincy Grammar School, 32, 126 


Reading, 12, 17 

Reading schools, 27, 30 

Realizing ideals of the commu- 
nity, 213 

Recess periods, arrangement of, 
62 

Records, attendance, 63 


¢ 


261 


Relief teachers, 62 

Reorganization, of the Detroit 
elementary schools, 1918-1923, 
the problem in, 43; of existing 
buildings, 134 

Report on schoolhouses, 112 

Required number of teachers in 
platoon and _ non-platoon 
schools of equivalent size, 202 

Rest rooms, teachers’, 113 

Retardation, 186 

Revolution, schools preceding, 
5; decline of schools after, 5 

Room, art, 17, 160; literature, 
6071 ; lunch, 162; manual 
and industrial arts, I61; 
music, 66, 160 

Rooms, administrative, 161, 162; 
home 0523. play;.153'¢., sel- 
ence, with conservatories, 157, 
159; special, 161, 164; teach- 
ers’ rest, 113 

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 14, 19 


Safety, 132 

School, architecture, 103, 108, 
127; building, 114, 194; com- 
plete elementary, 36; failures, 
186; adapting the, plant, 133; 
of three R’s formed, 30 

School organization, changes in, 
30; not definite in colonial 
period, 20%" plan. of,” 50:5 
platoon, in Detroit, 44, 48; 
transient and rotating, 29 

Schoolhouses, early English, 103 ; 
in period from Revolutionary 
War to 1850, 107; report on, 
112 

Schools, dame, 28; district, 107 ; 
Gary, 140, 141; graded gram- 


262 


mar, 34; infant or primary, 
33; Lancasterian, 32, 116; 
Lutheran, 29; middle, 36; in 
Middle Colonies, 106; platoon, 
42-230; private adventure, 
28; Puritan, 29; reading, 27; 
reading and writing, 30; in 
the South, 106; writing and 
reckoning, 28 

Science rooms, 89; 
servatories, 157, 159 

Scientific attitude, development 
of, in 20th century, 21; modi- 
fying methods, 22 

Segregation, movement toward, 
119 

Sloyd system, 16 

Social-civic, 80 

Socialization, 24 

Social-science, 89 

Space requirements, 56 

Special rooms, 161; plan of, 161; 
seating of, 64 

Spelling, retained prestige, 12; 
rose to first rank, 7; standard- 
ized, 6; waning emphasis 
upon, I7 

Standard tests, use of, 166 

Standard units of platoon school 
building, 149 


with con- 


Tabulation, methods of, 167 

Teacher service, analysis of re- 
quired, in non-platoon and 
platoon schools, 203; duplica- 
tion of, 201 

Teachers’ rest rooms, 113 


INDEX 


Technique used in measuring 
results, 166 

Tendencies after 1750, 4 

Tests, use of standard, 166 

Textbook, catechism as a, 3 

Textbooks, American, brought 
shift of emphasis, 7; American 
output of, 7; introduction of 


new, 6; secular, 4; seldom 
used in writing and arithme- 
tie, 43 


Theories and influence of Pesta- 
lozzi, 10 

The School and Society, 19 

Thorndike, Dr. Edward L., 21, 22 

Time, allotment of, 57; spent on 
fundamentals, 168; leisure, 66 

Trowbridge School, 195 

Types, of American colonial 
schools, 28; of American ele- 
mentary schools after 1750, 
30; of platoon schools, 55 


Unit construction, plans of Brady 
School illustrating, 146, 150, 
I5I 

Units, auxiliary, 162; standard, 
149 


Vitalization, 24 


Waste of instructional space, 201 

Webster, Noah, 6, 7, 8 

Wirt, W.S., 41, 42 

Writing, difficult to learn, 3; 
taught by dictation, 3 

Writing schools, 30 





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